And there might be some good news for California, and California claims administrators.

While California continues to see disturbing rises in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, The Los Angeles Times reports that there are some early signs the unprecedented Omicron wave is slowing.

The shift is uneven across the state, but the numbers suggest California could be reaching a crest in the latest surge. States on the East Coast that were hit earlier by the Omicron wave have already started to see a sustained decline in infections.

California has recorded more than 7 million coronavirus cases as of this week. The tally, recorded in the state’s databases late Monday, comes one week after it recorded its 6 millionth coronavirus case. There have never been as many Californians simultaneously infected in the history of the 2-year-old pandemic.

According to data released Wednesday that reflect numbers through Tuesday, California was averaging 103,000 cases a day for the most recent seven-day period, slightly below the prior week’s rate of 107,000; the week before, the state was reporting 60,000 cases a day. California’s case rate fluctuated between 114,000 and 115,000 in the last few days – the highest rates of the pandemic.

Some of the state’s most populous regions may be starting to see a leveling in case rates. Southern California recorded 69,000 new cases a day over the most recent seven-day period, a slight reduction from the 75,000 recorded from a week earlier. The week before, the region tallied 43,000 cases a day.

Los Angeles County posted a record number of coronavirus cases last week, nearly 42,000 a day. But based on numbers released through Wednesday afternoon, the county is now averaging about 37,000 cases a day.

The greater San Francisco Bay Area is now averaging about 18,000 coronavirus cases a day, a rate that has fluctuated between 18,000 and 22,000 for roughly a week and a half.

In Santa Clara County, coronavirus levels in wastewater started declining about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Officials expect the dip will presage a sustained decline in coronavirus cases.

The Greater Sacramento area recorded about 5,400 cases a day for the most recent weekly period. The capital region has been fluctuating between 5,000 and 6,000 cases a day for the last week and a half.

In the Greater San Joaquin Valley, a region that generally lags behind trends in Southern California and the Bay Area, cases are still going up. The area tallied 9,300 cases a day over the last week, higher than the 7,100 cases a day for the prior week; the week before that, the region recorded 3,200 cases a day.

In rural Northern California, about 720 cases a day were reported in the last week, nearly even with 710 reported the week before, but more than double the roughly 350 cases a day the sparsely populated region reported the prior week.

The rate at which California’s coronavirus tests are coming back positive has also started to decline. For the seven-day period that ended Jan. 10, California hit a record positive test rate of 23.1%. Since then, the rate fell to 21.1% for the seven-day period that ended Sunday. The rate is still very high; by comparison, in early December, it was around 2%.