Post by t-bob on Aug 3, 2023 12:00:01 GMT -5
While much of the world has moved on from the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody and her colleagues still wear protective masks to work and in other crowded indoor settings. And if you’ve noticed a lot of people you know coming down with COVID lately, you’ll understand why.
Thrust into the national spotlight three years ago as an early voice of caution and protective orders as the then-deadly COVID pandemic took hold, Cody admits she and her public health colleagues stand out now among the mostly unmasked masses. But with cases rising again, and her own recent bout with the disease still in mind, she urges others to consider masking indoors.
“Every single one of us masks every day, because we look at the data,” Cody said. “We may be the last maskers, but that’s what we do. I’d highly recommend people going to indoor gatherings with a lot of people mask. The chances you’d be exposed are very high.”
Signs of the virus are on the rise, with the California Department of Public Health’s most recent statewide 7-day average percentage of positive tests at 7.6%, more than twice this year’s 3.4% low on May 5 and higher than July 2021. Bay Area counties have seen positivity rates double from June to July, to 4.9% in Santa Clara, 7.7% in San Mateo, 8.7% in Contra Costa and 8.8% in Alameda.
The various COVID-19 states of emergency in California, the U.S. and World Health Organization all folded between late February and early May. And there’s no indication any of those states of emergency and the restrictions and mandates that accompanied them will return. But that doesn’t mean the virus has vanished.
“We’re in a place in the pandemic where we’re mostly providing information and asking the public to make their own decisions,” Cody said. “Unfortunately, with the narrative that the emergency is over, the public has heard that COVID is over and it’s not around anymore, and that’s not true. The truth is we know COVID is still circulating, and you can still get sick and miss a lot of work and miss a lot of school.”
Thrust into the national spotlight three years ago as an early voice of caution and protective orders as the then-deadly COVID pandemic took hold, Cody admits she and her public health colleagues stand out now among the mostly unmasked masses. But with cases rising again, and her own recent bout with the disease still in mind, she urges others to consider masking indoors.
“Every single one of us masks every day, because we look at the data,” Cody said. “We may be the last maskers, but that’s what we do. I’d highly recommend people going to indoor gatherings with a lot of people mask. The chances you’d be exposed are very high.”
Signs of the virus are on the rise, with the California Department of Public Health’s most recent statewide 7-day average percentage of positive tests at 7.6%, more than twice this year’s 3.4% low on May 5 and higher than July 2021. Bay Area counties have seen positivity rates double from June to July, to 4.9% in Santa Clara, 7.7% in San Mateo, 8.7% in Contra Costa and 8.8% in Alameda.
The various COVID-19 states of emergency in California, the U.S. and World Health Organization all folded between late February and early May. And there’s no indication any of those states of emergency and the restrictions and mandates that accompanied them will return. But that doesn’t mean the virus has vanished.
“We’re in a place in the pandemic where we’re mostly providing information and asking the public to make their own decisions,” Cody said. “Unfortunately, with the narrative that the emergency is over, the public has heard that COVID is over and it’s not around anymore, and that’s not true. The truth is we know COVID is still circulating, and you can still get sick and miss a lot of work and miss a lot of school.”
