The Santa Clara County Senior Health Officer warned on Tuesday that the number of COVID cases and hospitalizations was rising, and urged everyone to consider wearing high-risk masks, maintain a stockpile of tests and be careful when communicating indoors.
“The pandemic is still here,” said health worker Dr. Sarah Cody. “It’s time to take off your mask and try out your tests and just be a little more careful than a month ago.”
Santa Clara County currently has an average of 552 cases per week – slightly higher than the number of cases during the peak of the Delta wave that struck in the summer of 2021. The cases are led by two cousins of the BA.1 omicron strain, which caused a big jump in the winter, which is currently dominant in the rest of the country.
Cody’s announcement does not include any public health mandates – and it does not offer any criteria for when and if the county will impose them. But Cody left the door open for some tightening of the rules.
“I would say that at this point in the pandemic, no one wants to impose restrictions,” she said. “At the same time, we also know that we need to think about the whole community, and especially about people who are more vulnerable and need restrictions to protect them. What I want to happen is for everyone to just know where we are. And to understand that they are at risk, because now we have many viruses. And it’s on the way up. “
The county also has between 80 and 100 people, who are currently hospitalized with COVID – an increase from mid to late April, when between 65 and 75 people are hospitalized. Cody said Tuesday that he expects those numbers to rise. COVID deaths in the county are on a downward trend, but this figure tends to rise after the peak of cases.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Cody also encouraged unvaccinated people to get vaccinated and called on those eligible for a second booster injection to get one that includes older and immunocompromised individuals. The health official noted that there was not much demand for the second booster. Within the county, 29 percent of those aged 65 and over received a second booster, while only 15 percent of those aged 50 to 64 received one.
Other counties in the Gulf region on Tuesday also watched the steady rise in COVID cases.
At a meeting of the Alameda County Supervisory Board, health official Dr. Nicholas Moss said his department had no plans for upcoming public health mandates. However, if hospitalizations continue to rise and the widespread “long” symptoms of COVID reappear, Moss said the mask mandate is likely to return.
San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco counties do not have current plans to require a mask, according to their health departments.
In response to the growing number of cases, San Jose has chosen to renew the mask mandate for its staff by May 20, “out of plenty of caution,” according to a city spokesman. BART also requires masks for passengers until mid-July.
Local outbreaks are also beginning to appear in the region. Last week, at least 60 high school students in Los Gatos tested positive for COVID for 14 days. Days earlier, the San Francisco Giants announced they would restrict access to their clubhouse after several players tested positive for the virus.
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