Coronavirus deaths in LA County rising as ultra-contagious subvariants spread infections

LOS ANGELES — The number of weekly COVID-19 deaths reported in Los Angeles County has doubled over the last month — the first significant increase in fatalities since the winter surge.

Over the last week, the nation’s most populous county tallied roughly 100 COVID-19 deaths, the highest total in three months. A month ago, the county was reporting about 50 deaths a week.

Although the numbers are still a fraction of the peak in the winter, when there were more than 500 COVID-19 deaths a week, they underscore the growing concerns over new super-contagious subvariants that have fueled a new wave of infections.

“There’s a lot of misinformation circulating about COVID right now, including that, at this point, it only causes mild illness,” said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “Unfortunately, this isn’t true.”

For all the observations that omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the delta variant, which was the culprit behind last summer’s surge, the coronavirus just this year has already led to three times as many deaths as the county