The spread of BA.5 is driving cases up again.

The BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus has swiftly spread throughout the United States, already becoming the dominant strain of the disease. While BA.5 is not believed to cause a more severe case of COVID-19, the virus is hyper-infectious, having proven itself proficient at dodging immune responses and spreading easily. In response to the virus’s fresh spread, some parts of the United States have begun mulling a soft relaunch of pandemic precautions.

Los Angeles County in California is one of these parts, as it is poised to reinstate its local mask mandate as soon as next week. Proponents of a mandate have said that it is the simplest, least intrusive means of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Opponents, however, have pointed out that the populace is exhausted from two years of pandemic precautions, and noted that local hospitals are not experiencing as severe a surge in cases thanks to vaccinations and anti-COVID drugs like Paxlovid.

County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer conceded that the new surge is nowhere near as bad as the height of the pandemic in 2020, and that she doesn’t want to hinder peoples’ abilities to live their lives. She noted, however, that “High community transmission also leads to preventable and avoidable deaths, primarily among those most vulnerable,” adding that “If we can slow down transmission, we have a good chance of preventing some people from dying in the upcoming months.”

“It’s very attractive to minimize what in fact is happening now … and I think that’s a mistake,” Ferrer said. “I know people are sort of saying, putting masks on is really asking a lot of folks. We asked a lot more of everybody — for a much longer time — for much of the past two years.”