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As the most contagious delta variant continues to increase COVID-19 infections among the unvaccinated, San Francisco officials again advocated Thursday for residents to get vaccinated – especially black and Latino residents who, officials say are more than twice as likely to contract COVID compared to the city-wide population.
The highly infectious delta variant of the virus will cause at least 250 more deaths, most of them African American and Latino, London Mayor Breed said at a press conference in the Bayview district.
Currently, all of the people hospitalized with COVID-19 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital have not been vaccinated, and most are African Americans, Breed said. Across the city, 28% of those hospitalized with the disease are African American, officials said.
Black and Latino residents of San Francisco are 2.5 times and 2.2 times more likely to contract COVID, respectively, compared to the city’s population, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
“I’m afraid for people who refuse to get vaccinated,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the Bayview District.
New daily COVID cases in San Francisco have increased steadily since the reopening on June 15, from around 11 cases to 60 yesterday, according to Chronicle data. Figures are seven-day averages. Hospitalizations are also increasing, but not as rapidly, from June 14 to Sunday 19, according to city data.
Walton said the greatest number of cases are in the Bayview District – zip code 94124 – “because we don’t do everything we can to protect each other.” It’s a cry to my community. … We need you to get vaccinated.
Bayview-Hunters Point has the highest rate of new cases in the past month, followed by Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill, according to city data. The Bayview has a case rate of 26 per 10,000 residents, which is significantly higher than the city-wide case rate of 9 per 10,000. This despite the fact that the neighborhood has fairly high vaccination rates, with 80% of residents having received at least one injection. Bernal and Potrero Hill have case rates of 17 per 10,000 and 14 per 10,000, respectively. In both neighborhoods, more than 70% of residents received at least one injection.
“Even with high vaccination rates, there are pockets of unvaccinated communities and they remain vulnerable,” said Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy director of health for San Francisco. “What you are seeing are these unvaccinated pockets that are developing cases.”
Bobba said the new cases were not attributed to a specific event, but rather resulted from a combination of community transmission and family gatherings.
In the past 12 days alone, the number of COVID cases has tripled in San Francisco, officials said. The delta variant is “COVID on steroids,” said Grant Colfax, the city’s public health director. “Much more contagious than COVID a year ago. It is very likely now that if you take risks you could get infected. “
More and more young people are being hospitalized, Colfax said. The average age of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in San Francisco is 48, and a quarter are 35 and under, he said.
The difference between getting the shot and not getting the shot is “sniffing versus suffocation,” Colfax said.
Catherine Ho is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Cat_Ho
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