We’re getting again close to the late-pandemic territory we had been in again in June, although San Francisco is not fairly there but — with hospitalizations coming down however nonetheless effectively above where they were in mid-June and early July.
Case counts are additionally sliding again down within the Bay Space to the place they had been once we had been nonetheless all carrying masks and staying residence extra — although they don’t seem to be fairly as little as Might, when many extra restrictions had been nonetheless in place and most bars and golf equipment had been nonetheless closed. Nonetheless, specialists like Dr. Monica Gandhi agree that we’re coming into a section of endemic COVID, when circumstances are by no means actually going to be zero, however most infections — particularly among the many vaccinated — aren’t that extreme and hospitals do not get overwhelmed with sufferers. The overwhelming majority of documented new circumstances within the Delta surge had been nonetheless among the many unvaccinated, and throughout the Bay Space, vaccination charges are excessive and solely getting greater.
Additionally, as of yesterday, California as a complete entered the CDC’s “moderate” tier for COVID transmission, turning into the one state within the nation with that distinction this week. And when the masks mandates had been re-recommended by the CDC in July, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky really helpful them for states within the “substantial” (orange) or “excessive” (crimson) tiers.
So, it is time once more quickly to let individuals take their masks off in additional indoor conditions, significantly if new circumstances do not look be spiking once more (although who is aware of with the vacations, variants, and waning immunity with out boosters).
Mayor London Breed tells the Chronicle today, “Hopefully we are going to make some changes [to the mask mandate soon] as a result of I believe it’s overdue.”
Breed added, “I respect and comply with the recommendation of my public well being specialists, however I believe that particularly in gentle of so many individuals being vaccinated and the decline within the numbers, I believe that it’s acceptable and we’ll see what occurs.”
All through the pandemic, the Bay Space’s well being officers have largely labored in live performance on these well being orders — with the exception of Solano County’s — and it feels like they’re doing that when extra on the masks mandate. As Santa Clara County Well being Officer Dr. Sara Cody informed the county board of supervisors right now, “We’ve been discussing this among the many well being officers within the area and our intention and plan is to develop a set of metrics all of us share which are widespread throughout the area as to when to elevate indoor masking.”
Dr. Cody added that the coalition of well being officers is “getting very shut and are hoping to have an announcement with particulars by the tip of the week.”
These metrics are prone to embrace a mix of common every day new case charges, hospitalizations, and vaccination charges.
Some San Francisco enterprise homeowners expressed frustrations two weeks in the past when Mayor London Breed’s maskless appearance in a Tenderloin club made nationwide headlines — with some suggesting that lax enforcement of masks guidelines at bars is unfair to different varieties of companies. And it could appear that regardless of San Franciscans (and vaccinated vacationers) intermingling fairly broadly for the final two months in eating places, bars, and golf equipment, virus transmission has not elevated and every day case counts and hospitalizations have continued to slip.
SFGate this week looked at the data on counties the place masks had been re-mandated in August versus these the place they weren’t, and total case charges and peak hospitalizations weren’t terribly totally different between the 2 — Solano County’s worse total numbers look largely prone to be tied to its low vaccination fee.
Because the Chronicle experiences, Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman informed the board and Dr. Cody that he is anticipating the masks mandate to elevate as a result of questions on when it is occurring are what he is listening to most from companies and constituents.
And, at this level, telling individuals to be affected person is getting very repetitive.
Associated: Pandemic Updates: SF Cases Continue to Drop; Monica Gandhi Explains Transition to ‘Endemic’ COVID
Picture: Mark Konig
