COVID-19 instances are increasing in Los Angeles County, indicating the start of a winter spike.

Barbara Ferrer said Thursday in an online briefing that the surge was obvious by Dec. 1, when the county's seven-day average daily number of new cases surpassed 1,000, up 19 percent from the previous week. She also reported an increase in hospitalizations as a result of the COVID outbreak, with the daily number of COVID patients approaching 600.

"We expect rises to continue following our Thanksgiving celebrations, but based on statistics, we're already seeing the start of a winter spike," Ferrer added.

According to her, the county's current average daily incidence of new infections has grown to 13 per 100,000 persons, up from 8 a week ago. The county's seven-day cumulative rate of infections increased to 113 per 100,000, reclassifying it as "high" transmission by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, the county was classified as having "considerable" transmission. A county must have a cumulative seven-day transmission rate of less than 100 cases per 100,000 population to qualify for this level.

According to Ferrer, the county's increased caseload was mirrored in schools.

"Cases among students in particular surged to their highest level since late September in the week before Thanksgiving break," Ferrer added. "If this spike in cases represents transmission that occurred during Christmas parties, we should consider this an early warning concerning the impending December holiday," says the report.

Because of stringent infection-control procedures on campus, such as frequent testing and mandatory mask-wearing, Ferrer believes that illnesses among students are likely linked to Thanksgiving celebrations.

As COVID cases rise, Los Angeles County has been reclassified as a 'high transmission' area, according to health officials.

She recognized that the county is "far better off" than previous winter due to the broad availability of vaccinations and the benefit of more expertise in avoiding and treating illnesses. "All rises in instances are concerning," she emphasized.

"I don't want to minimize the fact that we're back in the CDC's 'high' transmission category," she added.

"As a result, there is a great deal of communal transmission going on. And when there's a lot of community transmission going on, and there are a lot of possibilities for individuals to mix, you run the danger of these numbers just growing. And when they expand and we see more and more cases, we all know that it inevitably leads to an increase in the number of individuals who end up in the hospital and sadly die."

COVID vaccinations, according to Ferrer, will likely reduce the burden of a significant winter spike on hospitals and the county's general health care system, since vaccinated persons are less likely to get critically ill and require hospitalization. However, she believes that more individuals should get the vaccinations in order to alleviate hospital overcrowding.

"There's a lot we all need to do to cut down transmission," she added, urging vaccinated residents to receive booster doses to fight diminishing protection from the first shots. She claims that despite the fact that 5 million people in the county are eligible for booster injections, only 1.6 million have been given.

"Please don't wait any longer," she implored to those who were waiting. "Boosters are necessary to provide additional protection."

On Thursday, the county reported 15 more COVID-19 fatalities, bringing the total to 27,288.

Officials believe a new omicron variant case in Los Angeles County is the consequence of local transmission.

Another 1,718 additional illnesses were recorded, bringing the total number of pandemic infections in the county to 1,541,886.

As of Thursday, there were 667 COVID-19-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals, the same as on Wednesday, according to state data. The number of patients in intensive care increased to 158 from 151 the day before.

As of Thursday, the rolling average daily rate of those testing positive for the virus was 1.4 percent.

According to the most recent data, 83 percent of county inhabitants aged 12 and above had gotten at least one dose of vaccination, with 75 percent having received all three doses. At least one dosage has been given to 77 percent of eligible residents aged 5 and above, and 69 percent are completely immunized.

84,931 persons, or around 1.38 percent, of the county's more than 6.15 million fully vaccinated people have tested positive. A total of 2,798 vaccinated persons have been hospitalized, resulting in a 0.046 percent hospitalization rate, and 537 have died, resulting in a 0.009 percent death rate.

Despite the fact that the county Department of Public Health has identified four cases of COVID-19's new Omicron variant, and Long Beach has confirmed one more case, Ferrer said the Delta variant remains the dominant strain in the county, accounting for more than 99 percent of cases that undergo genetic sequencing.

According to Ferrer, the county is currently sequencing 25% of all positive cases to find COVID variations.