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The increase in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations for COVID-19 in San Francisco has slowed, but a new peak could occur in mid-January due to holiday gatherings, the city’s public health director said on Tuesday. .
Dr Grant Colfax, director of health, told a press conference that hospitals in the city now have plenty of beds available in their intensive care units, although ICU space is available across the region. bay fell to 5.9% of their capacity.
“We remain in a serious and critical position, but our collective actions are making a difference,” said Colfax.
The rate of increase in infections “appears to be slowing,” Colfax said, but it is “plausible” that the city “will see a sharp increase in the coming weeks.”
Colfax began his remarks by expressing support for residents of Southern California and the Central Valley, areas he said were experiencing “dire” and “catastrophic” pandemic conditions.
He said hospitals in San Francisco now have four COVID-19 patients from out of town and could accommodate more patients from other areas that are suffering from a shortage of intensive care beds.
The State Department of Public Health allocates the vaccines to health providers, who then receive the doses directly from the vaccine manufacturers, Colfax said. The vaccines will be distributed according to the priorities established by the State.
San Francisco has yet to detect a new, potentially more infectious strain of the virus that has spread rapidly in Britain and has been found in the United States, including southern California.
Still, Colfax said, he wouldn’t be surprised if the strain is eventually discovered in the city or elsewhere in the Bay Area.
The city’s public health department has vaccinated more than 6,000 people to date, mostly frontline health workers at city-run health facilities, including Laguna Honda Hospital, one of the largest skilled nursing facilities nationwide.
By the end of Tuesday, Colfax said, more than 90% of the residents of Laguna Honda will have received their first dose of the vaccine. Fifteen residents and 34 staff at Laguna Honda have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The city did not end up with an excess of vaccines, Colfax said.
“Right now, demand far exceeds supply,” he said.
About 80,000 people living or working in San Francisco will be vaccinated in the first round of distribution, he said.
“Please know,” he added, “we expect anyone who wants the vaccine to get one eventually.
The Mayor of London Breed, who also spoke at the press conference, stressed that residents should have hope.
“The vaccine is there,” she said. “These are difficult times, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
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