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Coronavirus cases are on the rise in San Francisco, and infections among adults aged 25 to 39 are the main driver of the increase.
In May, 25-39 year olds made up just over 35% of new monthly cases, but in July they hit 50%. The increase is part of a general increase in the number of coronavirus cases in San Francisco, which has exceeded the infection rate statewide. The 25-39 year olds represent around 33% of the city’s population.
“It’s a perfect storm,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine specializing in infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco.
This storm, he said, is a mixture of the relatively lower vaccination rate among these age groups and their general tendency to be social, combined with the proliferation of an extra-contagious delta variant.
The delta variant began to spread like wildfire in the state shortly after the state reopened on June 15, removing or relaxing virus-related restrictions. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention once again recommends that all people wear face masks indoors.
With this variant, the same old precautions don’t work as well, Chin-Hong said. “It’s a less forgiving virus.”
Current monthly coronavirus case totals among the 25- to 39-year-old age groups have surpassed July 2020 levels, with more than 1,400 new cases on Friday, up from just over 1,200 last year.
“People in this age group, 25 to 29 and 30 to 39, move more for social and potentially professional reasons,” the doctor said.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health also pointed to relatively low vaccination rates among adults in these age groups as a likely reason for their high infection rates. Immunization data from the city shows that adults aged 25 to 34 had the lowest rate of all eligible age groups, at just over 72% with at least one dose and 66% for those who are fully vaccinated.
“We know that the delta variant is much more likely to infect and spread in the unvaccinated, so we would expect case rates to increase in this age group as well,” the department said in a report. communicated.
Chin-Hong of UCSF said there might be people between the ages of 25 and 39 who feel healthy and invincible, or otherwise reluctant to get vaccinated, but the lower vaccination rate among this population may It can also be explained by the fact that older people and more vulnerable people have been given priority in government immunization efforts.
Public health authorities have tried to catch up, often offering incentives, including cash prizes, for people to get vaccinated, but with mixed results, he said. With the Delta variant as strong and contagious as it is, more drastic measures might be needed, such as employers, bars and restaurants requiring proof of vaccination or negative test results, as is currently the case. .
“It’s super embarrassing to keep testing all the time,” Chin-Hong said. “Some people might want to do it, but I’d be surprised people would want to keep doing it, especially if they like hanging out with their friends at a bar.”
Yoohyun Jung is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @yoohyun_jung
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