Official: California COVID surge could ease next month

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California surge in coronavirus cases has shut down schools and sidelined thousands of police, firefighters, teachers and health care workers but officials are hoping it will be short-lived.

“My hope is that, you know, by the time we get to February, we’re on the downside of seeing that massive amount of community transmission,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

California's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has soared five-fold in two weeks and hospitalizations have doubled. LA County, the state's largest with 10 million residents, reported more than 37,000 new cases on Thursday, which was the highest level since the pandemic started.

The jump is driven by the omicron variant, first detected in California in late November. Health officials say close contact during holiday gatherings, especially among unvaccinated people, has helped spread the highly infectious mutation.

But vaccinations and booster shots were protecting many people from severe illness, health officials said. Fewer than half of hospital patients with COVID-19 were there because of the infection. Most were hospitalized with unrelated illnesses, the county said.

“We do see this as a surge that will be, it is our hope and belief, short-lived,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Thursday as the city announced that the virus had sidelined more than 800 police and fire personnel.

Moore said it was taking an average of three weeks for officers struck with COVID-19 to return to work.

San Francisco reported on Tuesday that 167 officers were quarantined and 135 firefighters — both representing about 8% of their forces — were absent due to COVID-19. San Diego had nearly 200 officers and other personnel out Tuesday, reflecting a similar...