As an unprecedented wave of coronavirus infections washes over the region, Los Angeles County health officials are urging residents to postpone nonessential gatherings and avoid some activities — especially those with people who are unmasked, unvaccinated or at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness.The ask comes just ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend. The Lunar New Year is also right around the corner on Feb. 1, and the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood is a month away. Speaking to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer acknowledged that “this is not the start to the new year we had all envisioned.” But given the state of the pandemic, health officials are “asking that, over the next few weeks, we all try to avoid nonessential activities where people are unmasked and in close contact with others,” she said.The recommendation is voluntary and officials have not imposed any new restrictions that would force the cancellation of any events. In fact, Ferrer said last week she didn’t see the Super Bowl being disrupted.But the guidance comes as hospitals are being strained, hobbled by staffing shortages that have forced some to cancel scheduled surgeries.L.A. County, like the rest of the state and nation, is grappling with a massive spike in infections fueled by the Omicron variant, the most transmissible version of the coronavirus. In the last week, the county has reported 253,000 new coronavirus cases, rewriting its pandemic record book and pushing the region past another milestone: more than 2 million recorded infections.“Parties and events, especially those indoors with unvaccinated individuals or those at high risk for severe illness, make it very easy for this virus to spread,” Ferrer said. “Limiting our time with others to those more essential work-related or school-related activities is a prudent action for everyone to take whenever it’s possible.”Ferrer also urged the public not to use the limited resource of rapid tests as a passport to party. It’s becoming clear that that strategy, she said, is “not that effective, as many people have learned, and it doesn’t help us make sure that we’re able to get testing kits out to those people who really need it.”“We don’t have capacity for everyone to be testing everyday right now,” Ferrer said. “The safest thing to do right now is curtail some of those nonessential party activities, where we’re having too much spread, and wait while we build up that testing capacity.”California this week surpassed 6 million cumulative coronavirus cases reported throughout the pandemic, according to data compiled by The Times. And the total is continuing to rise rapidly.“With the additional tools we have, particularly easy access to free vaccine, we ought to be able to use different strategies to get us through these challenging times,” Ferrer said. “As always, though, it takes the full cooperation of all of us to move forward with grace and get through this surge.” The ongoing Omicron wave has prompted both renewed calls for caution and some new measures aimed at checking the strain’s spread.California has already extended a previously issued statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces through at least Feb. 15.Experts and officials say it’s particularly important for residents to upgrade their masks to the better-fitted, medical-grade variety.In Sonoma County, health officials have taken things a step further than their L.A. counterparts — enacting a 30-day ban on large gatherings in response to a dramatic spike in coronavirus infections. Under that health order, large gatherings of more than 50 people will be banned, along with outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Checking the coronavirus’ breakneck spread is vital, officials say, to ensure that healthcare systems aren’t swamped with a deluge of additional patients. The number of coronavirus-positive individuals hospitalized statewide has skyrocketed in recent weeks. Monday’s daily census was 11,815, an 89% increase just since Jan. 1. Patient counts haven’t been this high since last February, when California was still shaking off the worst of its devastating winter surge. However, officials note that circumstances are different this time around — though not uniformly for the better. Hospitals are seeing a lower share of people admitted specifically for COVID-19 illness than during prior waves. More people are instead testing positive incidentally upon admission when seeking treatment for other maladies. Still, hospitals are seeing far fewer critically ill coronavirus-positive patients than they did a year ago.One area where Omicron is wreaking particular havoc, however, is with healthcare staff. “There’s just a lot more virus out there in the community, and healthcare workers — just like anybody else — are getting infected,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services.In L.A., Ghaly said, there’s a “large number of staff that have tested positive and are out on isolation protocols.”“This number is in the several hundreds and has made it virtually impossible to staff a hospital in line with the state’s minimum mandatory staffing ratios, or to maintain services that are at a level of care needed to support safe patient care,” she said Tuesday.Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.