The Bay Area and San Francisco’s Alarming Surge of New COVID-19 Cases
Over the past several days, San Francisco and other regions of the Bay Area reported a skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases, which resulted from the Thanksgiving celebrations that took place recently. The sudden spike of infections made public health officials’ fear come into reality as bed capacity across the state’s hospitals becomes overwhelmed with thousands of patients contracting the disease.
On Monday, California listed at least 115 deaths caused by COVID-19 – another sad indicator that the virus has once again claimed hundreds of lives. As of the latest consensus, public health administrators announced that the state had surpassed 20,000 coronavirus-induced deaths. California’s reported death toll sums the overall count to a total of 20,052.
Additionally, both the Bay Area and the state recorded the number of skyrocketing coronavirus cases on Monday. According to official local reports, the Bay Area has 3,843 new cases within its nine counties. California, meanwhile, obtained additional 33,775 infections.
The troubling news for the two areas does not end with the announcement of new additional COVID-19 infections. Lately, The state and the Bay Area’s death toll also experiences a rise in its numbers. Last week, the Bay Area listed 65 deaths, while California reported nearly 800 deceased coronavirus patients. The said death counts of the two places reveal an 80% increase compared to the previous week’s tally.
San Francisco’s Monday report of its new coronavirus case count results in an additional amount of 316. Furthermore, the city recorded 1,067 latest infections over the past four days. The said number shook the municipality’s entire COVID-19 case history due to the recent tally representing 6% of the region’s 17,000 total cases since the beginning of the outbreak.
Moreover, five of the Bay Area’s counties listed record-breaking case totals from one or two days ago. The previously mentioned districts include Santa Clara, which notified the public on Monday that it has listed 1,431 new infections. The past four days marks the county’s overall coronavirus tally to almost 4,000 – the count representing a tenth of its total for the worldly crisis.
Public Health Officials’ Responses to the State’s Alarming Increase in Infections
In response to the concerning inflation of coronavirus cases across the country, medical experts and public health officials urged the approval of the stay-at-home order effective beginning Monday. The legislation attempts to halt another spike of infections occurring within the state and help hospitals prevent full bed capacity and fatigue among health care employees. Officials predicted that the post-Thanksgiving events might lead to alarming increases of COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization in the upcoming one or two weeks.
The troubling rise of coronavirus cases could trace its roots from the most recent Thanksgiving holiday. Infectious disease specialists concluded that the numbers revealed that many people violated safety protocols when they celebrated the occasion despite the government’s repeated warnings to urge the cancellation of large gatherings among the public. The situation would also become a lot worse at this point, primarily when Thursday’s Hanukkah holiday draws nearer. Due to the desire of avoiding another celebration-induced spike of COVID-19 cases, public health officials exert extra effort into reminding locals to stay vigilant and follow health guidelines imposed by the state.
For instance, San Francisco of Public Health’s advanced planning director Dr. Jim Marks confirmed that people failed to follow medical experts’ advice. According to Marks, the state’s entirety did not abide by safety precautions to protect itself from the virus, causing the sudden surge of infections recorded recently. Additionally, Marks encourages everyone to do his part of observing social distancing measures to prevent hospitals’ bed capacity from reaching its peak.
As of official reports on Sunday, the country’s overall intensive care patients tally count to 2,360. Additionally, hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the state have reached 10,000 people in total.
