Los Angeles coronavirus cases more than double within days

The number of new COVID-19 infections in Los Angeles county has more than doubled within a matter of days.

Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health indicated that 3,512 new cases were reported on Sunday. On Saturday, the county saw 3,730 new cases, the most it has reported in a single day in months.

The county had reported 1,123 new cases last Monday, less than one-third of the number of new infections reported on Sunday. 

The recent uptick in infections has sparked concerns not only in Los Angeles but across the country and around the world as people prepare to gather for the holiday season. 

Businesses in the L.A. area have also seen a recent rise in COVID-19 infections, including 132 SpaceX staffers testing positive for the virus and 85 employees at a FedEx shipping center near the Los Angeles International Airport, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

While experts expect omicron infections to rise, the county has seen only 38 cases, the vast majority of California’s 49 cases as of last week. Still, the delta variant remains dominant in California, with nearly 185,000 cases throughout the state, the Times reported. 

On Sunday, Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration’s chief medical adviser, warned that the U.S. would likely see new COVID-19-related records with the omicron variant. 

“We are going to see a significant stress in some regions of the country on the hospital system, particularly in those areas where you have a low level of vaccination, which is one of the reasons why we continue to stress the importance of getting those unvaccinated people vaccinated,” Fauci said, adding, “It is going to be a tough few weeks to months as we get deeper into the winter.”

The rise of infections across the country have prompted actions similar to those seen earlier in the pandemic. 

Some lawmakers have considered reimplementing mask mandates, while some professional sports leagues have postponed games and some schools have made the shift to remote learning.