In California, is more action needed as Delta fuels the COVID outbreak?

No one wants a throwback to our pandemic past – especially when it comes to the color purple.

But with the Delta variant steadily spiking COVID-19 rates across California, there is growing concern just a month after the state lifted its color-coded restrictions on businesses, schools, and gatherings. social.

And now, an analysis from the Bay Area News Group earlier this week on how rising COVID-19 rates would have pushed a dozen counties – including Los Angeles, Alameda and Contra Costa – into the now-extinct purple level but state’s most restrictive reignites debate: is it time for public health officials to act?

“This was discussed in the salon last week, so we’re just watching and waiting and seeing how it goes,” said Annie Miller, 36, owner of Salon 77 West in Danville, who does not t is no stranger to living in confinement.

A peek inside places like Salon 77 West or Crumbs Breakfast, Lunch & Bar would hardly betray that COVID-19 is on the march again in Contra Costa County. Customers gathered inside these popular Danville institutions this week with some of the face masks that local health officials now say everyone should wear inside.

“Since the masks came off we’ve had no cases, no issues with it,” Miller said of his salon. “So we were very lucky. But we also pay great attention to cleaning and disinfection. It was not a problem. We are at the mercy of numbers and data.

And the numbers are not good. Statewide, the 7-day average daily case rate per 100,000 people fell from 2 in early June to 10.2 on Sunday – a rate that had qualified counties for the purple level and is higher than it is has been since early March, although it remains much lower than 105 in early January.

“It’s alarming,” Buffy Wicks MP, D-Oakland, whose district spans western counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, tweeted Tuesday after seeing analysis that their rates qualify them for. the purple level. “It’s time we did something uncomfortable: make vaccination mandatory – in schools, gyms, hospitals, workplaces.”

It’s alarming: CA’s new wave of COVID would have put many counties back to the most restrictive level in our plan to reopen.

It’s time we did something uncomfortable: make vaccination mandatory in schools, gyms, hospitals, workplaces, etc. Thread: https://t.co/a3SsbzsZdS

– Buffy Wicks (@BuffyWicks) July 20, 2021

Nationally, many health experts have called on the federal government to change its guidelines that vaccinees no longer need to wear masks indoors.

But talks about vaccine passports have all but disappeared in the months since vaccines became widely available and infection rates began to drop as a result. And with Gov. Gavin Newsom facing a recall election in September, largely driven by criticism of his handling of the pandemic, there is little appetite for further state-wide restrictions on businesses and schools.

“We are paying close attention to the Delta variant,” Newsom said Wednesday, calling a statewide mask order or vaccine passport unnecessary. “The most important thing we can do to put this pandemic behind us is get vaccinated. “

So state and local health officials continue to focus their efforts on getting more people to get vaccinated, even though California and in particular the Bay Area already have high vaccination rates and the provinces. new vaccinees will not be fully immunized for six weeks.

“We do not anticipate any additional restrictions at this time,” Contra Costa County Health Services said in a statement on Tuesday. “Despite increasing case rates, the rate of serious illness and hospitalizations among fully vaccinated people remains low. Since most of our seniors are fully immunized, we expect this increase to have less of an impact on our hospitals, nursing homes and health care delivery systems. “

The 7-day average daily number of COVID-19 patients in Contra Costa County hospitals has more than doubled since June 15, from 23 to 56 on Monday – about the same rate as when the county left the level purple in mid-March – although it remains well below the peak of 277 in early January.

Like many urban coastal areas, Contra Costa has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with three in four residents aged 12 and over eligible for fully immunized vaccines and four in five partially immunized.

But infections are on the increase in both groups. One of the few counties to report infection rates by vaccination status, Contra Costa reported that its 7-day average daily case rate per 100,000 was 6.5 in unvaccinated and 0.9 in unvaccinated. vaccinated on June 15. As of July 13, the most recent figures available, the rate had climbed to 21.9 among the unvaccinated and to 3.3 among the vaccinated. The rate, however, remains well below the peak of 748.6 at the start of January.

These rising case rates have prompted health officials in Contra Costa and most of the other Bay Area counties and others across the state to recommend that everyone resume wearing masks in public areas. indoor public places, whether or not they are vaccinated against COVID-19. Los Angeles County placed an order on Saturday.

In San Francisco, bar owners are discussing whether to require proof of vaccination for entry to avoid a worsening of the epidemic that could lead to a return of closure orders.

“We are a group that has suffered so much over the past 16 months,” said Ben Bleiman, founder of the SF Bar Owner Alliance, which owns several pubs in the city, and fears that the increase in cases among the unvaccinated. threatens the health of employees and their families and a return to bar closures. “We’re just fed up with it.”

A throwback to the days of California’s color-coded rules would mean purple counties would be forced to close bars and theme parks, restaurants would be limited to outdoor and take-out dining, gyms, theaters , museums and vineyards could only operate outdoors and stores would be limited to a quarter of its capacity.

It’s hard to even imagine a return to purple inside Crumbs, where only one guest wore a mask as it was filled with a hungry lunch crowd on Tuesday. Owner Amy Sidhom said “we’re not very concerned yet” about further restrictions to come. But the specter of a return to the indoor eating ban, which the restaurant has endured for more than six months to prevent the spread of the virus, is troubling.

“A lot of people had to be made redundant, because take-out is about 10%, 15% of our business, so we couldn’t take on the payroll for a whole company,” Sidhom said. “But luckily everyone is back and doing well, and we hope it stays that way. “

Tony Lukaszewski, 68, of Danville, is not worried about the virus. He is vaccinated and he doesn’t think the community is ready to revert to pandemic restrictions.

“This community has already returned to normal,” he said. “They have all been locked up for a long time and they are free. “