Public health officials in California are reporting a late summer Covid-19 wave hitting the Golden State, noting a continued increase in new cases as some at county level advocate for a return to indoor mask wearing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that coronavirus infections are either “growing” or “likely growing” in 30 states, including California, suggesting that increased socializing over the Labor Day weekend and the return of children to school for the fall term may have exacerbated the spread.
The CDC also notes that the state has “high” levels of coronavirus detectable in its sewage water and that the rate at which coronavirus lab tests are coming back positive is continuing to rise.
Masked shoppers at Grand Central Market in Los Angeles in July 2022 (AP)
Results for the week ending August 23 saw 12.07 percent of tests across the state come back positive, The Los Angeles Times reports, double what it was in the equivalent week in late July.
At a local level, similar leaps were seen in Los Angeles County, with 13.44 percent of tests coming back positive in late August compared to 8.11 percent a month earlier.
In Orange County, the numbers rose to 18.1 percent from 9.4 percent over the same period and, in San Francisco, they were up to 8.7 percent from 7.1 percent.
Dr Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told the Times: “We are definitely seeing an upswing in patients with Covid. Thankfully, inpatient cases are few and far between. Wastewater levels, however, are still rising in Los Angeles, so we have not reached the top of this current wave.
“We will have to see what direction things go over the next one to two weeks to have a better idea.”
Fortunately, the rate of hospitalizations across California is currently rated as “low,” although it is reportedly increasing. For the week ending August 23, just 3.62 people per 100,000 were admitted for Covid, although the figure is up from 1.9 four weeks earlier.
“The current percent of Covid-19 positivity is higher than at any point last winter,” according to Orange County health officials Dr Christopher Zimmerman and Dr Regina Chinsio-Kwong, although both stressed that it is unclear at present “how high or how severe this summer’s Covid wave may be.”
Public safety messaging on display in Monterey Park, California, during the pandemic in June 2021 (AFP/Getty)
Breaking with the Trump administration’s vaccine-skeptic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Dr Aimee Sisson of Yolo County told the Times: “Vaccination remains one of the most effective ways to prevent severe disease and death from Covid-19.”
She also advocated for a return to masks, adding: “Wearing a high-quality mask such as an N95, KN95, or KF94 that fits well continues to provide strong protection.”
Meanwhile, on the East Coast of the United States, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that his state would be the first to state to end all vaccine mandates.
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladepo likened the practice of compulsory inoculation to “slavery” at a press conference, framing the debate as a freedom of choice issue.
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