LOS ANGELES — California has now surpassed 8 million cumulative coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the end result of weeks of unprecedented spread fueled by the highly infectious omicron variant.
The milestone, equivalent to roughly 1 out of every 5 residents having been infected at some point, comes amid growing signs that omicron has finally peaked — but not before tearing through California’s communities. Since New Year’s Day, 2.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported in California. That’s fast approaching the entire statewide caseload reported all of last year: 3.1 million.
And if anything, the recent sky-high numbers are likely an undercount, experts say, as many who may be infected may not get tested because they have only mild symptoms or none at all, while others may use self-administered home tests, whose results are not automatically reported to public health officials.
