EXCLUSIVE: Omicron variant now makes up 67% of all COVID cases in SF's Mission District
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Omicron has officially surpassed delta cases in San Francisco's Mission District.
"Everything was delta and then we went to 6% (omicron) and then on Saturday, 3 days ago, it was 67% omicron," said Dr. Diane Havlir, UCSF professor and chief of infectious diseases at ZSFG.
A daunting spike in a matter of days that could be telling of what's ahead.
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Luz Pena: "What is your projection? When do you believe that you're going to see the majority of cases coming out of this site as omicron?"
Dr. Diane Havlir: "We expect that January is going to be when the surge is going to peak and occur. We need to do everything we can to make that peak as low as possible."
Their sequenced showed that every person who tested positive for omicron was vaccinated. Dr. Havlir is urging the public to get boosted for an extra layer of protection.
"The Latinx community and the Black community overall in this pandemic has had two fold more infections, two-fold more hospitalizations and two-folds more deaths. We thought after delta we have a high vaccination rate here but what we saw is that two vaccines are not enough for this variant," said Dr. Havlir.
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Currently 47% of eligible San Franciscans have received a booster dose.
Everyday over 400 people get tested at the Mission site. Tuesday Alfonso Jimenez and his 12-year-old son wanted peace of mind.
"We wanted to make sure that we aren't positive," said Jimenez and added, "Every variant has its negative side effects so we just want to do our part and make sure it doesn't spread."
The Latino Task Force is providing resources to those who tested positive for omicron.
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"We are making sure that they have food. That they have cleaning supplies and that the kids who came back positive can get some toys this holiday season," said Susana Rojas with the Latino Task Force.
As the Latino Task Force gears up for the next two weeks they are asking the city for more help.
"To open up large vaccination sites again so we can ramp up," said Rojas.
According to San Francisco's Department of Public Health, there are at least 30 probable cases of the omicron variant among San Francisco residents. DPH believes this is very likely an undercount.
