SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is showing signs that it has turned the corner on the omicron wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Cases are falling and hospitalizations are short of the overwhelming deluge that officials had predicted just weeks ago.
University of Southern California epidemiologist Dr. Jeffrey Klausner on Tuesday compared it to a wildfire that is running out of fuel. Hospitalizations still are above 15,000 coronavirus patients. But that’s well short of last January’s peak and half of what officials had feared.
The state’s projections show hospitalizations falling by half in another month. Intensive care cases, currently at 2,600, are projected to peak by early February before dropping quickly.