Health Experts Say COVID Cases Likely Will Rise When Spring Break Ends
WALNUT CREEK (KPIX) -- For many Bay Area school districts, spring break starts on Monday and, to better manage the spread of COVID, schools distributed rapid tests for students to take home before their break.
"I'm going to Central California for five days," said Spencer Berg, a junior at Las Lomas High School.
"I'm going to a Warriors game," said Guy Parnes, a 10th grader at Las Lomas High.
After two pandemic years and travel restrictions, some families and students plan to make up for lost time.
"I'm not really scared of COVID anymore 'cause it's kind of dying down," said Roee Parnes, an 8th grader at Walnut Creek Intermediate School.
But the fear for health experts is they'll pick up the new, even more contagious Omicron subvariant known as BA. 2.
"Like the evil twin sister of BA. 1, it's more transmissible by 30 to 50 percent," said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, infectious disease expert at UCSF.
Dr. Chin-Hong said that, while 10 states outside of California were seeing cases go up, the Bay Area case counts remained low. That is expected to change as health officials believe the local numbers will increase.
"We don't think it's going to be a traditional surge like a huge vertical-wall increase and lots of people being hospitalized. They'll probably be a low- to moderate increase that may cause some disruptions in schools and the workforce," Dr. Chin-Hong said.
That's why California schools have been handing out 14 million rapid COVID tests to students and staff. It's not mandatory but Bay Area schools are encouraging people to use them.
"I think everybody is going to make the smart decision and get tested if they go on vacation before they get back to school and not come if they do have (COVID)," said Roee Parnes.
Schools recommended students get tested next Friday and Sunday before returning to classrooms the following Monday, April 11.