As people are traveling and gathering indoors for the holidays, recent data has confirmed the fears of public health experts: California and the Bay Area are seeing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations.
Statewide, the daily number of newly reported cases has increased 114% from a month ago and 43% from the previous week, and hospitalizations are up 150% month over month and 16% from a week ago.
So how do you stay healthy, and how much caution is needed?
Given the risk of resistance from the public, officials are opting instead for strong recommendations and leaving the ultimate decision to people based on their own circumstances.
“Masking is a personal choice,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Thursday. “You don’t need to wait for CDC’s recommendation, certainly, to wear a mask.”
As people are traveling and gathering indoors for the holidays, recent data has confirmed the fears of public health experts: California and the Bay Area are seeing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations.
Thank you for joining us during the Juneteenth Soul Festival. Check out the recap. Thanks again to all who helped make the event possible.
COVID-19 has become deadlier for Black Californians since the widespread availability of vaccinations, and vaccine hesitancy could be among the reasons why. People of other races, who have higher vaccination rates, have seen death rates rise, but not as dramatically.
