Hello, it’s Wednesday, May 29th. Here’s what you need to know to start your day off right.
The national COVID-19 emergency ended just over a year ago. Gov. Gavin Newsom ended California’s emergency orders in February 2023. But the coronavirus is still here, now in more variants and subvariants. The latest scary ones are officially known as KP. 2, KP. 3, and KP. 1. 1, but they’ve been given the nickname FLiRT (an acronym for the amino acid modifications that led to the strain’s mutations).
The most recent data shows that those subvariants make up the dominant circle of COVID family members in the U. S. The U. S. population has risen from about 20% of infections a month ago to more than 50%.
State health officials say the summer could lead to a surge in cases after a spring of low transmission.
“Concentrations of COVID-19 in wastewater recommend an increase in several areas of California since early May,” the state Department of Public Health said last week. “COVID-19 test positivity has been slowly expanding since May. “
Health officials may not be surprised to see a surge in COVID cases this summer, just as we’ve noticed in previous summers. We gather more on weekends and holidays, and we tend to gather indoors to escape the heat.
So how worried are we? The Times’ Rong-Gong Lin II provided some context in his report this week:
However, because FLiRT subvariants are more easily transmitted, doctors are advising others at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infections to take precautions. These include:
The biggest risk for severe COVID-19 remains age, according to the CDC. People with certain underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, and serious core diseases, are also at higher risk.
“California recently reached a COVID milestone: 0 deaths in a single calendar day, on April 2, a feat accomplished since the early days of the pandemic,” Rong-Gong wrote. That week, he writes, L. A. County also set a new record. for deaths: an average of 0. 14 per day.
Fewer people are hospitalized and dying from COVID-19, but fitness officials say the virus is still deadlier than the flu. And one doctor Rong-Gong spoke to said there’s growing evidence that getting COVID-19 increases your chances of long COVID. .
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 107,000 Californians have died from COVID-19.
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Where do leftover produce from Los Angeles go?This organization is helping to bring tons of food to the hungry every day. Food Forward saves about 2 million pounds of produce each week. It all started with a slow walk through a Los Angeles community full of unharvested fruit.
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Show us your favorite position in California! We are running out of proposals. Send us photos that evoke California and we can feature them in an issue of Essential California.
Today’s striking photo is of Times contributor Jheyda McGarrell. Pictured is South-Central rapper Jay 305 at the DTLA Scent Bar.
Have a great day, from the team at Essential California.
Ryan Fonseca, Journalist Kevinisha Walker, Multiplatform Editor & Saturday Journalist Christian Orozco, Associate Editor Karim Doumar, Head of Newsletters
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Ryan Fonseca writes the Los Angeles Times’ Essential California newsletter. A lifelong Southern California native, he has worked in Los Angeles County newsrooms, adding radio, documentary, print and television media. Most recently, he was assistant editor of LAist Public Radio. . com and KPCC-FM (89. 3), which covers shipping and mobility. He returns to The Times after applying as an associate web editor for Times Community News, where he helped manage the Internet sites and social media presence of Burbank’s leader, Glendale News. Fonseca studied journalism at Cal State Northridge, where she now teaches the next generation of journalists how to expand their voice and virtual skills.
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