SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – As the U.S. contends with a COVID-19 surge stemming from the highly contagious omicron BA.5 strain, only one Bay Area county is averaging weekly cases at a lower rate than the country as a whole.
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All nine Bay Area counties had high COVID-19 community levels as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ending on Wednesday, according to federal data released on Thursday. During those seven days, only Marin County (254.6 weekly cases per 100,000 residents) averaged fewer cases than the U.S. did (261.6 per 100,000).
San Francisco (373.7 per 100,000), Santa Clara (373.2 per 100,000), San Mateo (354.3 per 100,000), Alameda (350 per 100,000) and Solano (337.3 per 100,000) counties all averaged more weekly cases than the statewide rate (336.5 per 100,000), while Contra Costa County (329.5 per 100,000) fell just under.
Sonoma (264.6 per 100,000) and Napa (262.1 per 100,000) joined Marin County below the state average, but all three counties – and their six Bay Area peers – nonetheless easily met the CDC's "high" community levels by averaging more than 200 weekly cases per 100,000 residents and at least 10 COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents.
A high community level carries a CDC recommendation – but not a requirement – to wear masks in public indoor spaces and aboard public transportation, and Bay Area public health officials continue to follow suit.
The Bay Area's COVID-19 case rates are higher than every previous surge – save for last winter's initial omicron spike – and health experts have warned that the numbers are almost certainly underreported due to the preponderance of at-home tests. Prior surges often brought back stricter mitigation measures, such as when most of the Bay Area required masks indoors last summer due to the delta variant.
Yet Alameda County was the only one in the Bay Area to reimplement a mask mandate last month, and the requirement only lasted about three weeks. Los Angeles County, meanwhile, has a higher case rate (369.6) than all but San Francisco and Santa Clara counties and could require masks indoors if it has a high community level for two more weeks.
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