COVID-19 increases again in Sonoma County, with unvaccinated cases creeping upwards

COVID-19 infections in Sonoma County are on the rise again, largely driven by an increase in new cases among unvaccinated residents, local health officials said Friday.

So-called “breakthrough” infections continue to occur among fully vaccinated people, but county data show that these rates have been stable for more than a month and have 100,000 inhabitants. It is changing with 5 to 7 new daily cases per per.

By comparison, the same proportion of unvaccinated individuals increased steadily throughout October, with approximately 18 to 28 new daily cases per 100,000.

“It’s the unvaccinated people who are causing the pandemic,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, Berkeley. “They are infected and spreading the virus to others in the community.”

Swartzberg pointed out that Sonoma County has shown the largest increase in transmission speed in the Bay Area. New York Times COVID-19 Cases.. The daily infection rate of Sonoma County per 100,000 inhabitants has increased by 75% in the last 14 days.

All nine counties in the Bay Area have reported increased infection rates in the last two weeks, but not as much as Sonoma County. San Mateo and Alameda counties reported the next largest increase, at 36% and 23%, respectively.

“Something is happening in Sonoma County,” Swartsburg said. “Sonoma seems to be heading in the wrong direction.”

Napa County is one of the lowest case rate increases in the last two weeks, at 4%. Contra Costa County had only a 2% increase in COVID-19 infection during this period, which is one of the second highest rates in the Bay Area. A 7-day average of 114 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Catherine Puck, health program manager for Sonoma County’s epidemiology team, said the recent increase in cases reflected the increase in cases seen during this period last year. She said contributions included increased school incidents and gatherings, especially among entertainment venues and friends and family, and Halloween festivals.

As he gathers on holidays to travel and spend more time indoors, there is growing concern about the potential for more viruses to spread during the winter, Puck said. According to Puck, the recent increase in the number of cases has occurred after a decline following a surge in the summer and short-term stability.

Dr. Sundari Mase, Health Officer at Sonoma County, agreed that unvaccinated people are the main driver of the increase in cases. She said vaccinated residents would be infected, but the spread of the virus would be more aggressive among unvaccinated people infected with the virus.

“The reason we say this is an unvaccinated pandemic is that it’s much more likely to get COVID if it’s unvaccinated,” Mase said. “If you are not vaccinated, you are probably five times more likely to get COVID than a vaccinated person.”

Mase said that if a vaccinated person becomes infected with the virus, it is much less likely to become seriously ill. That is, “they are less likely to infect the virus, so they break the chain of infection,” she said.

This week, health officials reported two other deaths related to COVID-19. For the past four weeks, county public health staff have reported deaths from COVID-19 twice weekly. During the summer, authorities reported virus-related deaths every few days.

The reduction in pandemic mortality has followed the reduction in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations since the summer wave of infection and death. Infectious disease experts at the University of California, Berkeley said he was afraid of a possible winter outbreak of infectious diseases, although not as serious or deadly as last year.

Two recent deaths, which brought the total number of deaths from regional pandemics to 408, were vaccinated women aged 80-90 who died on October 26 and 60 who died on September 16. Includes unvaccinated women up to 70 years old.

You can contact staff writer Martin Espinoza (707-521-5213 or [email protected]). @Pressreno on Twitter.