After an alarming summer surge, coronavirus cases have been declining in California and across the country in recent weeks.
The state’s test positivity rate reached 13% in late August, the highest level since the summer of 2022, but has since fallen to 7%. The weekly average number of new hospitalizations due to the coronavirus has fallen by about 30 percent from its peak in early September. According to state data. And across California, coronavirus levels in wastewater appear to be declining.
Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director, said: he told the Los Angeles Times this month.: “The excitement of summer is over.”
But public health experts see this moment as a reprieve rather than a true end to coronavirus concerns. They expect cases to surge in the winter, as they have every year since the pandemic began.
“We’ve seen this story before,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said recently. told the San Francisco Chronicle. “There was a small uptick in the summer, but then it goes down. People become complacent and go back to high levels after Halloween and Thanksgiving.”
Given these patterns, the Biden administration has once again made free at-home coronavirus testing available. And experts recommend that everyone six months of age and older receive the latest booster immunotherapy. The vaccine, released last month, has been reformulated to better fight off the latest variants and is available to most Americans for free.
California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomás Aragon said in a statement that staying up-to-date on coronavirus vaccines is important to “keep your immune system strong and protect yourself and others from serious illness, hospitalization, and death.” “Protect” is the best way. He added that the new booster could reduce symptoms in patients with mild symptoms and allow them to return to normal life more quickly.
If you need even more reason, consider what public health experts call the “triple demic.” There are concerns that a sharp increase in new coronavirus infections during the winter season may coincide with the annual increase in influenza and RSV infections. This was last year. Large numbers of people are falling ill, straining hospital resources across the country.
That’s why federal health officials are urging Americans to get vaccinated against all three viruses this fall.
“October is the best time to get the flu vaccine and the latest coronavirus vaccine,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. told the San Francisco Chronicle This happened last week when I visited a nursing home in the Bay Area. Additionally, “the severity of the season is largely related to the number of people who are vaccinated. The more people who are vaccinated, the more likely we are to have a milder season.”
where we are traveling
Today’s tip comes from Regan Davis, who lives in Carmichael.Davis recommends Noyo Headlands Park At Fort Bragg on the Mendocino Coast:
“On a recent visit to Fort Bragg, we walked from our motel room across Highway 1 to the old airstrip that now serves as a parking lot at the south end of Fort Bragg. Cape Noyo Trail. As we walked along, listening to the loud cries of several seals, we heard the sound of a harbor foghorn in the distance. It was a debate over the rights of buoys. The air is gentle on the trail, and colorful wildflowers support the cliffs. All to the west is the Pacific Ocean. Mendocino Point extends to the northern horizon. Ahhh. ”
Tell us about your favorite place to visit in California. Email your suggestions to [email protected]. We’ll have more information in a future newsletter.
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And before we leave, we have some good news
A new park honoring the history of San Jose’s Chinese-American community opened to the public last week with a celebration and sake toast.
Heinlenville Park, located in the city’s Japantown district, is named after German immigrant and businessman John Heinlen. Mr. Heinlen helped the local Chinese community rebuild after an 1887 fire, believed to have been caused by arson, devastated the downtown area where Chinatown was originally located. As a landlord, Heinlen provided inexpensive rentals to the community, paving the way for the dynamic Chinese cultural center that became known as the Heinlen Building.
The neighborhood disappeared just 40 years later due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, but its traces can now be felt and seen in the city thanks to Heinlenville Park.
“You don’t read about John Heinlen’s legacy in history, but you will experience it here,” says historian Connie Yong Yu. told the Mercury News. “This park embodies a story that San Jose is proud of.”
The park will be used as a multicultural gathering space and includes details such as a 19-foot-tall metal sculpture featuring traditional Asian symbols and a paved pathway tracing the area’s Chinese-American history. It will be.
thank you for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya
PS it’s here today’s mini crossword.
Maia Coleman and Brianna Scalia contributed to California Today. You can contact the team at: [email protected].
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