Despite omicron, LA sees far fewer critically ill patients compared to last winter

LOS ANGELES — Despite an unprecedented spike in cases fueled by the omicron variant, Los Angeles County hospitals are seeing far fewer critically ill coronavirus-positive patients than they did last winter.

Officials emphasize that the health care system still faces serious challenges because so many people are being infected, and it’s unclear how close the omicron wave is to peaking. L.A. County ambulance services and hospitals also are contending with coronavirus-related staffing shortages as more of their workers become infected.

But the early data seem to reflect the experience elsewhere — that omicron, while far more transmissible than the previously dominant delta variant, also tends to cause less severe symptoms, especially in those who have been vaccinated and boosted.

This week marked the one-year anniversary of the most difficult period of the pandemic locally, when the