Correction: An earlier version of this article indicated COVID rates were surging across the Central Valley. The state’s Department of Public Health’s dashboard shows a surge across Central California, which extends beyond the Central Valley.
Central California, including San Joaquin County, is seeing a new COVID-19 surge, with the region posting some of the highest rates of test positivity in the state.
Some 18.4% of coronavirus tests are showing up positive across Central California, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
The department’s California COVID-19 Dashboard indicates the latest numbers — for the week ending Aug. 23, the most recent data available — are the highest positivity rate in Central California in at least three years and part of an overall increase across the state.
Health officials termed the rate as “very high.” It had risen 2.8% from the previous week.
The only other region with a higher rate in California is an area hugging the Oregon border termed the “Rural North.” That rate is 19.7%, although it includes relatively few test samples. The statewide average is rated “moderate” at 12.1%, but health officials warn that infections are climbing.
“We have seen an uptick (in cases) in the past few years in the summertime,” said Dr. Maggie Park, San Joaquin County’s public health officer. “The numbers are still growing, so it’s still unknown whether the peak will surpass last year’s.”
Test results are just one measure of the spread of COVID. The state’s health department says it also is detecting the virus at higher levels in wastewater, although not as high as last year. Those indicators have been rising for the past two months in Central California and other regions.
While the latest COVID variant, XFG or Stratus, isn’t as deadly as the one that killed millions of people around the world in the early days of the pandemic, it’s still a nasty bug.
“There’s no alarm bells going off that this variant causes worse illness. But, of course, we are still seeing hospitalizations and deaths,” Park said.
The number of hospitalizations across Central California have spiked in recent weeks, state health department data shows, although admission levels remain “very low.”
San Joaquin County, like many others, is largely flying blind when it comes to assessing how bad this COVID surge may be. After the pandemic was no longer considered a public health emergency, some of the reporting mandates were removed at both the state and federal levels.
As a result, Park acknowledges that the county’s Respiratory Illnesses Dashboard isn’t the best place to find the latest information. While the website indicates that data is updated monthly, as of Thursday, the COVID dashboard showed the most recent information from June, when the test positivity rate for the county was 19.12%.
Rather, Park said, she and other counties look to the state for updates. “We don’t have our hands on the data, and we don’t have the funding to support the work,” she said.
Even the state says it doesn’t think the latest estimates are as accurate as in the past. Last year, testing volumes were about 60% higher. The more samples that are tested, the less the numbers swing.
Amid this summer surge, both Park and state officials are recommending that people consider breaking out their supply of N95 or other protective masks for use in certain situations — including being in rooms with poor air circulation or traveling on public transportation. Health experts also urge individuals to wear a mask if they contract any sort of respiratory ailment, to help stop the spread of illness.