Omicron’s surge can hit some parts of California much harder than others

Authorities have emphasized various safety protocols such as vaccination, booster shots, and wearing masks in public indoor locations as the best way to fight Omicron, adding that there is no need for a separate blockade. I am.

Some experts say it’s important not only to be safe, but also not to overreact to the Omicron surge, such as deciding to close the school. Health officials throughout California have pointed out that outbreaks are low in schools from kindergarten to high school, and the state says it limits infections in schools, primarily because it requires wearing masks in indoor classrooms. It shows a success strategy.

“We can keep our children and teachers safe at school,” tweeted Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Brown University. “This is not March 2020. There is a vaccine.”

The Bay Area health authorities provided a subtle message. Both encourage people to support, and at the same time praise residents for their high rate of compliance with long-standing indoor mask obligations and high vaccination rates.

“If you look around the corner, you’ll see the Flood of Omicron,” said Dr. Sarah Cody, director of public health and health officer at Santa Clara County, last week. Still, instead of focusing on the new limits, we’re really doing our best to let the public know how important it is to get a booster.

“We have a very high vaccination rate,” Cody said.

In fact, Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, thinks it’s fairly safe to go to indoor events such as the Golden State Warriors’ NBA games and concerts, given the requirements for indoor attendees in San Francisco. I told my colleague at the city hall. Events with more than 1,000 people Completely vaccinated and entered — Standards that are stricter than state rules. This will allow unvaccinated people to participate in such events. show Results of recent negative coronavirus tests.

“I think they’re as safe as they are,” Rutherford said.

In some parts of the Bay Area, confidence in the area’s pandemic management seems to be high enough, state officials have decided to extend the obligation to indoor masks throughout the state, and some counties with existing rules Allowed to leave a limited exception as is.

This means that counties such as San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa, which have been obliged to wear local indoor masks since the summer, will make it an option for offices and gyms to wear masks if everyone inside is fully vaccinated. Allowed to maintain relaxed rules.

Overall, in the Bay Area, there seemed to be a sense that ordering certain types of businesses to close or limit the size of a crowd at a large event was an outdated strategy for controlling a pandemic.

Instead, there is more interest in controlling spread through rules such as requiring proof of vaccination to enter a particular business.For example, Oakland Under review Following the leadership of cities such as San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and West Hollywood, we asked patrons of indoor restaurants and gyms to show evidence of vaccination.

Some agencies are considering requesting booster shots. Stanford University has announced that qualified students must present evidence of a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by January 31 unless they have a medical or religious exemption.

According to early UK data, the effectiveness of the vaccine against symptomatic disease of Omicron drops to 34% 6 months after the second dose of the first two Pfizer vaccination series. However, with a third dose of Pfizer, its effectiveness returns to 76%, Rutherford said.

“One thing we should get rid of from today is to boost today,” Rutherford said.

New developments bring both good and bad news.

Citing data from the University of Hong Kong, Omicron appears to be highly infectious to the respiratory tract, but less infectious to lung tissue, said Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. Said at the city hall.

“It’s more contagious, but when it actually affects an individual, it can make it less likely to infect lung tissue,” it causes fatal breathing problems.

This may help explain why Omicron’s hospital stay in South Africa is short — 3 days vs. 7 days. “It’s probably due to the fact that few people in the ICU need oxygen, but more people will come to the hospital,” Chin Hong suggested.

If so many workers are sick at the same time, potential problems can arise. In other words, it may be necessary to reduce the length of time that infected people are quarantined in order to keep the hospital running.

According to Chin Hong, such changes may be necessary “because we can’t bother everyone for 10 days.” This is the current guideline for how long a person should be quarantined after a positive test result. Evidence has emerged that people vaccinated against breakthrough infections may be transmitted in fewer days than unvaccinated people.

Looking to the future, Chiu said the best scenario would only be a serious mess where Omicron wouldn’t cause a major peak in hospitalization and death. In addition, there is a reasonable possibility that the population may have sufficient immunity so that after the Omicron is blown off, the infection with the coronavirus is low enough to minimize the risk of another variant. There is sex.

However, it is possible that the coronavirus will mutate again. “This virus has looped us over and over,” Chiu said.

Dr. Kim Rhodes, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, may need to get used to the idea that people will not return to normal immediately in 2022 at the City Hall. Said not.

“We feel like we’ve been fooled,” Rhodes said. The previous light at the end of the tunnel “turned out to be a freight train called the Delta.”