COVID-19 cases are on the rise in L.A. and new variants are circulating, according to USC’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman.
The new FLiRT variant of COVID, which became the dominant variant in May, now accounts for 63% of infections according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This strain, like previous iterations of the disease, is more transmissible but not necessarily more severe. It still elicits hallmark COVID respiratory symptoms, minus a loss of taste and smell, which was once synonymous with the virus but hasn’t been prevalent in the last several variants according to Van Orman.
This surge is not unexpected, given the time passed since the last round of booster shots and summer travel, but Van Orman still urges students to be cautious to prevent the spread.
“The surge is definitely because we have had the emergence of this new variant. There’s genetic changes over time, and at some point, there’s enough change that we call it a new variant, and people’s level of protection from previous infection starts to wane,” she said.
The average number of daily cases in Los Angeles County last week was 154, a significant spike from the 83 average reported on May 29. Cases have increased each week for at least the last four weeks. The L.A. Times noted that Los Angeles COVID cases are now notably higher than cases in the rest of the United States.
“One of the interesting things about COVID is, with a lot of other respiratory viruses, we have this very clear cycle of when it happens,” Van Orman said. “COVID doesn’t quite have a cycle yet. We don’t quite know it, and it’s not predictable yet.”
To keep themselves safe, Van Orman recommends students continue to receive yearly booster shots. For populations that are immunocompromised, she recommends getting the Fall 2023 booster vaccine, which is still available. For those who aren’t, she said to wait until the next one comes out, likely in fall 2024. That one will be engineered for these new viruses. Additionally, she recommends vulnerable populations look into antiviral medications.
“The uptake of [the fall 2023] vaccine was not great. About a quarter of the population got it. We tracked the data for USC, and under among undergraduates it was, again, maybe 20%, 25%,” she said. “It’s likely COVID is going to be an annual vaccine.”
USC numbers are likely not accurate now, as fewer students are reporting their positive cases to the university and most have moved out of student housing for the summer. However, Van Orman recommends checking L.A. County wastewater data, published here weekly, to get a better picture of the spread.