[ad_1]
Sonoma County public health officials said on Wednesday that genetic testing of selected samples of COVID-19 detected at least 115 cases of the highly transmissible delta variant, a big jump from the 68 infections reported ago. less than two weeks.
The discovery reflects a national trend in which the delta has now become the dominant strain of coronavirus, said Dr Sundari Mase, county health official.
Medical experts in California and across the country say the vast majority of people infected with the highly infectious delta variant are not vaccinated.
For weeks, Mase, along with state and federal health officials, said this variant was primarily responsible for the recent increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, including in County of Sonoma.
“The vast majority of our samples selected for genotyping starting in May were the Delta variant,” Mase said, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that this strain of coronavirus accounted for 83% of infections across the country. .
Of the 115 local delta cases, 48 were detected using the county’s new gene sequencing equipment, which was first used on July 13. In this first round, 28 of 31 samples from COVID-19 patients were confirmed to be the delta strain.
Mase said not all local coronavirus samples are genotyped. Instead, county public health staff are prioritizing certain cases of the virus. They include cases found among vaccinated and unvaccinated people, hospital patients and large outbreaks like the recent one at Santa Rosa’s main homeless shelter, Samuel Jones L. Hall. At least 90 residents there have been infected with the coronavirus since July 2, city officials said this week.
Ultimately, the county expects to perform broader genetic testing on COVID-19 samples to get a better idea of how the variants spread, the health worker said.
Statewide, the number of coronavirus patients treated in a hospital more than doubled in a month. The infections have accelerated further in the past two weeks, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
From June 22 to July 6, the daily number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in California rose from 978 to 1,228, an increase of almost 26%, according to state data. In the past two weeks, the daily count has risen a further 76%, reaching 2,164 on Monday.
The increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations led Los Angeles County officials last Thursday to reinstate the requirement for residents to wear masks indoors. The next day, Sonoma County joined with six other Bay Area counties and the City of Berkeley in recommending the use of an indoor mask.
Lake County health officials also urged local residents to use masks indoors on Wednesday. Health officials there reported that Lake County on Tuesday had a daily coronavirus transmission rate of 17 new cases per 100,000 population, the highest in the state and nearly double the average for the state. State.
As of Wednesday, Sonoma County’s daily transmission rate was 9.5 cases per 100,000 people. To put this level of COVID-19 spread into perspective, as part of the state’s four-stage plan to reopen the abandoned state in mid-June, a rate of 10 cases per 100,000 population was considered widespread transmission and would have triggered the state’s most restrictive purple level. plan.
With an aggressive vaccination campaign that began in December 2020, the county moved closer to that minimum threshold of 70% of fully vaccinated people, commonly known as herd immunity. This is when scientists say the coronavirus is struggling to spread in the community. As of Wednesday, 69% of residents at least 12 years old were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We have to let people know that there is always a big risk, especially if you are not vaccinated,” Mase said. “You are at a much higher risk of COVID if you are not vaccinated.”
You can reach editor-in-chief Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or [email protected]. On Twitter @pressreno.
[ad_2]
Source link