Bay Area counties report record-breaking number of daily, weekly COVID cases
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Bay Area counties are breaking COVID-19 records and that's not a good thing.
"It seems very likely that we are going to have our highest 7-day average for positive cases in San Francisco since the start of the pandemic," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health says Supervisor Matt Haney's prediction is expected and currently the trend globally not just locally.
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This as we move through the winter and holiday seasons; the situation exacerbated by the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.
Last week, DPH reported 794 new cases in one day. DPH says the number is still being validated.
"794 cases if that's what they finalize, is hundreds of cases more in a single day than any other prior day since the start of the pandemic. I think there's reasons to be very concerned about that," said Supervisor Haney.
A similar story is developing in Marin County according to Marin County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis.
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"We had three consecutive days of record numbers of cases in fact Christmas day we had the highest number of cases ever," said Dr. Willis.
Dr. Willis is concerned about the disruptions that could evolve.
"You know if every individual who's infected isolates for 10 days and the case numbers continue to accelerate ,we will start seeing more and more people who are in essential roles not being able to come to work and that will start affecting infrastructure and staffing levels across all sectors, especially concerning would be you know health care, law enforcement where we really need people on the front lines," said Dr. Willis.
As people gather and travel they can layer their defense against the omicron variant with vaccines, boosters, testing and wearing an N95 or well fitted double mask; a cloth mask on top of a surgical disposable mask.
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Limiting the size and number of indoor gatherings also reduces risk.
"What I think we're all coming to terms with now and it is scary is that this isn't going away," said Supervisor Haney.
Neither San Francisco County nor Marin County are planning for any further restrictions as of yet.
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