It's been 2 years since the 1st COVID case was confirmed in LA County. Where are we now?

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Wednesday marks the second anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County.

When ABC7 first reported the county's first case of what was then referred to as the novel coronavirus, there were only five reported cases nationwide. Health officials then said all five patients had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus.

Since that first case was reported, at least 2.5 million people in the county have tested positive for COVID-19 and 28,000 people have died as a result.

Two years later, multiple vaccines are available and are still battling through the pandemic. There's still no vaccine for children under the age of 5 and the vaccination rate among kids 5-11 remains low.

However, local daily case numbers and the testing positive rate are trending downward. That's an encouraging indication to health officials that L.A. County appears to have passed the peak of the omicron surge.

However, transmission remains extremely high. Roughly one in seven people in the county are testing positive for the virus.