Speaker 1: (00:00)
Although the spread of COVID 19 remains high locally, San Diego county did see a slight reduction in cases over the weekend, whether or not this downturn represents the beginning of the end of the current surge remains to be seen. However signs are emerging that the current rate of transmission could stabilize before beginning a more significant drop in the coming weeks. Joining me now with more is KBB S health reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Christina, Matt, how do the most recent case numbers compare to previous week's data?
Speaker 2: (00:29)
Yeah. So if you look at the data overall, you know, on the state's website, the county's website, it, it's definitely showing a decline in the number of cases reported. You know, we're still seeing cases in the thousands, but definitely lesser coming in. One thing I will say though, is that the positivity rate is something that we've been struggling with lately. We did have it really down low and single digits before, but, um, it's been hung up around that 25% zone or so, um, so that's something that's definitely been, uh, concerning for officials
Speaker 1: (00:56)
Do the recent numbers indicate that we may actually be headed in a downward trend of K eases in the county.
Speaker 2: (01:03)
It definitely indicates that we're heading in a downward slope, or at least in this most recent surge, we're starting to like plateau and, and head head in a better way. Um, also something that we have to back that up is, uh, wastewater data, uh, from UC San Diego health experts that are looking at some of this stuff from the point Loma treatment plant. Um, we know that, you know, of infection first develops in the gut before it goes to the airways. And that's when they look at that sewage, when they can see, you know, how much, uh, transmission's been out there in the community, they've been able to predict past surges. And they're also starting to see, uh, the amount of COVID that's inside that sewage going down. So, uh, a good indicator, a good, uh, early indicator that we are on the downward, uh, stretch of the surge.
Speaker 1: (01:42)
Do we know if hospitalizations are dropping as well?
Speaker 2: (01:45)
Hospitalizations have been another thing. That's kind of been a thorn in the San Diego county side. Uh, they've risen sharply ever since the Thanksgiving holiday. Um, and they've been stuck around there. Um, not, not as comparable as the surge that we had around this time of year ago, but still, you know, 1300, uh, COVID related host hospital
Speaker 1: (02:04)
Is a lot given all this are local health experts hopeful about what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 2: (02:09)
You know, the most recent thing we heard, uh, from the county public health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten was last week. Um, and she, uh, put out a statement saying, you know, there continues to be a lot of virus activity in our community. And the best bet for preventing illness is to avoid large crowd, wear your mask. You know, things that we know to do to, to keep ourselves safe here. Um, and also, you know, she said, get a booster shot when you're eligible. And also of course, encouraging vaccinations about 80% of San Diegos have gotten it done. So, um, just continuing to do the things that we know work to prevent the spread of this virus, but, you know, in this business, they never want to be predicting and saying, yes, we're going in a, in a good, in a good way. And then, you know, a week later we start going in the opposite direction, but they also wanna look for trends too. Uh, not just looking at, you know, cases from a few days, but looking at it over a few week period,
Speaker 1: (02:53)
Speaking of trends have experts indicated when they think the peak of this surge will be, are we anywhere near it? Have we passed it? Where exactly are we?
Speaker 2: (03:01)
So, you know, in speaking with experts to work on the wastewater project, you know, they think that definitely in terms of like the caseload that we are, you know, still inside the surge right now, but on the downward trend of the surge. I mean, in terms of cases now, hospitalizations, uh, might be a little bit more of a lagging indicator, but there's hope that you know, that it should turn soon within the next two weeks
Speaker 1: (03:19)
Or so across the region, staffing shortages remain a key concern for hospital administrators. Are we seeing this problem ease up at all?
Speaker 2: (03:27)
I would say yes, we're definitely seeing it ease up a little bit. You know, not as many staff at these hospital systems are out as they were, you know, compared to like just after the new year's holiday, but they're still seeing an impact. Um, there's still a lot of co it out there and that's also affecting hospital workers. Um, and we're still seeing, you know, systems like scripts having to, you know, delay care and delay some of these procedures that, you know, may not be a big deal now, but you put it off for a year. You put it off for two years and then it becomes, you know, an even bigger issue O other systems just like that. They're having to not only move patients around, but move staffing around from different clinical areas, bring them inside the hospital to keep up the pace of quickly intaking and discharging COVID patients.
Speaker 1: (04:05)
I wanna talk about testing now. Many San Diegos are still finding it difficult to get tests kits. Do we know of this high demand for tests has decreased at all in recent weeks
Speaker 2: (04:13)
Has not decreased at all. In recent weeks, the testing demand is still very high out there. We actually saw the county move to open, you know, all the county does not do the bulk of the testing. Uh, here in San Diego, they're more of the backstop that they say we did see them open up another testing site up in the north county there in, in, uh, Escondido. All the hospital systems are reporting. You know, testing demand is still up. And if you look at the data on the county's website, it's up quite a bit, way more than 10,000, even if you compare it to a month ago, we know we're still seeing some of those long lines out, out there, but generally providers are getting tests back pretty quick in about two days. Um, you know, some of the signs you see say two to four days, um, but keep in mind too, all these tests that are, uh, being done, those do not include any of the rapid tests. Uh, those are just the PCR confirmed tests by the labs. And
Speaker 1: (04:54)
In related news, there's a new proposed California bill that would add the COVID 19 vaccine to the state's list of acquired inoculations. Here's San Diego unified board member, Richard Barre, talking about that. If
Speaker 3: (05:06)
A few people wanna say that by sending their unvaccinated students to school, they're willing to risk the help and safety of all other students and educators. We need to send a different message
Speaker 1: (05:19)
Matt, before you go. What can you tell us about this pose legislation?
Speaker 2: (05:22)
Yeah, so this bill would sort of remove the mandatory personal belief exemption so that the state could enforce something like a vaccine mandate inside of these schools. And keep in mind, this is something that we saw, you know, San Diego unified, they tried to implement a COVID 19 vaccine mandate, uh, but a San Diego judge, you know, struck that down, said that, Hey, this has to be something that has to be done by the legislature. Um, and so that's exactly what you know, this lawmaker's trying to do, obviously with some of the support of some of the state's biggest school systems, but this still has a long way to go, you know, it's just been introduced. So we'll see, uh, if there's any appetite from other politicians in the public for it, I've been
Speaker 1: (05:57)
Speaking with KBB S health reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt, thanks again for joining us.
Speaker 2: (06:01)
Thanks, Christina. I,
