COVID: Infections surge across all nine Bay Area counties
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- As the masks come off and restrictions fall, COVID-19 infections are rising in the Bay Area, where the Center for Disease Controls's data shows all nine Bay Area counties have a "high" rate of coronavirus transmission.
Infections have risen 167 percent in a month in the Bay Area, and experts say the backdrop of a return to normalcy can be deceiving when it comes to public perception about the state of the pandemic.
"It's been much more insidious in that sense," said Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. "It's sort of lulling us into thinking not much is happening but when we look back over the last four weeks we've seen a very significant increase in the number of cases.
UC Berkley's Dr. John Swartzberg says while hospitalizations have also ticked up, they are still much lower than during the height of the Delta surge, adding health care system ought to prepare for another, more devastating surge now while hospitalization rates are still manageable.
"My feeling is the more we can keep the case rate down the more we can keep our hospital beds free to take care of patients who need them the better shape were gonna be in.," he said.
San Francisco now has one of the highest infection rates in California and a test positivity rate of 7.9 percent. Experts say it is driven in part by the new omicron subvariants.
But Dr. Swartzberg says the possibility of a new deadlier variant is one of his biggest concerns
"The real danger is that if a new variant comes along that not only is very transmissible that evades our immunity much better but also can make us a lot sicker than this one currently does. If a new one comes along with all those qualities well really be in trouble."