As California experiences an unprecedented surge in new coronavirus cases and record daily death rates at the same time the first wave of vaccines is rolling out, some wonder when it will end.
To know when it will end, you have to understand how it started.
"This is a consequence of Thanksgiving, we think," said Dr. George Rutherford, Director of Prevention and Public Health Group at UCSF. "These are all cases probably acquired right around the Thanksgiving weekend or contacts of cases that were acquired around the Thanksgiving weekend and it’s really accelerated."
The California Department of Public Health reported another 52,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, coupled with a single-day record 379 deaths. That’s the second time this week the Golden State has topped its previous high mark.
As of late Thursday, the Bay Area is officially under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s regional stay-at-home order.
But will it really make a difference as we near the holidays?
"This is kind of the hard emergency brake that the governor has talked about really needs to click in for us to get this back under control,” Dr. Rutherford said of the lockdown.
Back in mid-March, the Bay Area was one of the first regions in the country to go into a serious lockdown as the pandemic hit. That seems to have helped, along with various restrictions put in place by state and local health officials throughout the last several months.
"At least around here, in Northern California and San Francisco specifically, we’ve done a really good job with nursing homes. Not a great job, but it’s much better than in other parts of the state."
Cases continue to climb, as are deaths related to COVID-19 complications.
"This is not a disease that you want to get," he explained. "This is a very, very serious disease with high rates of mortality if you walk in the doors of the hospital."
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