COVID-19 infections increase by 40% in San Diego County
A complete of seven,008 instances had been reported throughout the previous week in comparison with 4,996 instances recognized the earlier week, a 40% increase.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency has reported 1,579 new COVID-19 infections, essentially the most since early February and half of a bigger development as infections proceed to increase.
A complete of seven,008 instances had been reported throughout the previous week in comparison with 4,996 instances recognized the earlier week, a 40% increase. These are solely the instances reported to county or hospital websites. As the proliferation of at-home checks has elevated, the precise variety of infections is probably going a significantly greater quantity.
“I don’t anticipate this wave is going to be as big as previous ones because lots of people have partial immunity either from vaccination or from already having been infected once with COVID,” mentioned Dr. Mark Sawyer, a pediatric infectious illness specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“I think you can expect things to improve over time, but how quickly and whether we’ll ever get to a point where we don’t see any cases is really hard to predict,” he added.
The HHSA reported 5 deaths Thursday, growing the county’s cumulative totals to 775,369 infections and 5,282 deaths.
“I know people are getting tired of this, but you know, it’s a serious infection. This virus has surprised us over and over again with its capability. You really shouldn’t get complacent,” mentioned Dr. Sawyer.
Pending approval from the Western States committee, booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine might quickly be accessible for San Diego youngsters ages 5 by way of 11, the HHSA introduced on Thursday.
According to a spokesperson for Rady’s, the hospital is planning to start administering booster doses for that age group subsequent week. An appointment is required.
The COVID-19 Pfizer boosters ought to be given 5 months after receiving the ultimate dose of the first vaccine sequence.
“Some parents have been anxiously waiting to give their children extra protection against COVID-19 and the shots may be finally approved,” mentioned Dr. Wilma J. Wooten, San Diego County Public Health Officer. “COVID-19 boosters for everyone who is eligible are easy to get because we have plenty of vaccine available in the region.”
Additionally, the Omicron variants have been making extra San Diego youngsters sick, the HHSA reported, with some requiring hospitalization and others creating multi-system inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C. From November 27, 2021 to May 7, 2022, 90% of the pediatric hospitalizations for the syndrome occurred in not-fully-vaccinated youngsters.
Since the pandemic started, there have been 98 MIS-C instances in the county. Of these, 53% have been reported in youngsters ages 5 to 11 and 60%- have been Hispanic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “MIS-C is a rare, but serious, post-infectious hyper-inflammatory condition occurring about 2 to 6 weeks after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.”
Symptoms of MIS-C embody fever, belly ache, diarrhea, pores and skin rash, irritation and multi-organ dysfunction. In extreme instances, youngsters can expertise hypotension (low blood strain) and shock. Approximately 60-80% of the early instances of MIS-C sufferers required intensive care admission.
“MIS-C can often be so severe that children require life-saving interventions,” Wooten mentioned. “Parents should contact their doctor immediately if their child develops any of these symptoms. The best thing parents can do is get all the recommended doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for themselves and their children.”
More than 2.96 million or 94% of San Diegans age 5 and older are not less than partially vaccinated, whereas greater than 2.62 million or 83.3% are absolutely vaccinated. A complete of 1,323,824 or 58.5% of two,264,730 eligible San Diegans have obtained a booster shot.
A complete of 9,611 checks had been reported to the county on May 14, and the share of latest constructive instances was 7.3%. The 14-day rolling share of constructive instances, amongst checks reported by way of May 14, is 5.8%.
The variety of folks hospitalized with a coronavirus an infection in San Diego County elevated by 14 to 134, as soon as once more surpassing Santa Clara County for the second highest hospitalization numbers in the state, in line with the newest state information.
Of these sufferers hospitalized as of Thursday, 24 had been being handled in intensive care, two greater than. The variety of accessible hospital beds was 219.
The county solely experiences COVID-19 information on Mondays and Thursdays.
WATCH RELATED: FDA confirms some at-home COVID checks are nonetheless correct after expiration date (May 18, 2022)
