California is experiencing a summer COVID-19 surge, with high levels of coronavirus found in wastewater statewide over the past 10 weeks.
Los Angeles County is seeing about 484 COVID cases per day – a 35% increase over the last month. More than 4% of the county's recent emergency room visits have been COVID-related.
Dr. Suman Radhakrishna, an infectious disease expert with Dignity Health, spoke with KNX News about the latest COVID FLiRT variant.
“The unique challenge with this variant is that it does not cause severe disease, so a lot of people are walking around with it, and that’s the reason why it is continuing on in the community,” she said.
She said she wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers continue to rise now that schools are back in session.
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Radhakrishna says that if you do have COVID, stay home until you no longer have a fever for at least 24 hours, and wear a mask around others until your symptoms go away. She expects the FDA to approve a new vaccine in September targeting the latest variants.
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