ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — Alameda County health officials continue to urge people to get vaccinated.
They say the county is experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases that could exceed the spring wave earlier this year.
Officials said it’s more than doubled. The average number of new cases was as low as about 30 a day. Now the average is up to 70 a day.
“This is a reminder COVID is not going to go away. It’s here with us for the long term and it’s going to continue to impact people.”
The Alameda County Health Department says the latest increases are likely due to reopening activity and less masking.
Health officer Nicholas Moss believes we aren’t seeing the impact of the 4th of July holiday just yet.
“It takes a few days when you’ve been exposed to COVID to get sick.”
Moss says they believe the Delta variant is also having an impact.
And while some mild cases have been reported among vaccinated residents — that’s not the majority.
“The vast majority of these cases are in the unvaccinated residents and the vast majority of these cases are in unvaccinated people and the communities where we see the lowest vaccination rates.”
A map shows which Alameda County zip codes are seeing the most cases. The darker blue the area is, the higher the case rate.
Moss is also concerned that with more spread, there will be more serious illness.
“So we have seen some increases in our hospitalizations. We got down to levels we hadn’t seen at any point in the pandemic in early June but we’re up from there.”
Dr. Peter Chin Hong, a UCSF infectious disease expert, says we have to be prepared for this situation to keep evolving.
“Always we’re going to be watching the data and seeing what happens.”
Health officials tell me the most impactful thing people can do to prevent the spread is get vaccinated.
If you’re not going to get vaccinated, continue to mask up, indoors and outdoors if you’re going to be close to other people.
As always, health officials recommend that you stay home if you feel sick, but they also recommend that you get a COVID test — even if you had a vaccination. A small number of people don’t build immunities from the vaccination.