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COVID-19 infections are again on the rise in King County as omicron’s infectious subvariant, BA. 2, continues to spread throughout Washington state — but there’s no cause for alarm yet, according to the county’s top health officer.

The county’s COVID trends have stayed fairly consistent for the past couple months, after the surge of the omicron variant peaked in early to mid-January. Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County’s health officer, said this week that virus levels were plateauing up until last week.

“There has been a clear change in the trend direction in King County,” Duchin said in an interview. “For the first time in awhile now, we’re seeing small but measurable increases in cases and hospitalizations.”

Over the past week, the county saw a 33% increase in infections, from 170 to 230 daily cases, and a 35% increase in hospitalizations, from three to four daily hospitalizations, Public Health — Seattle & King County spokesperson Gabriel Spitzer said Tuesday. During the height of the region’s rise in omicron cases, the county was reporting more than 6,600 daily cases and 60 daily hospitalizations.