The San Francisco director of public health said Wednesday that the rate of coronavirus transmission continued to rise in the Bay Area and that the city would not move forward with the reopening.
“Unfortunately, we are experiencing a spike in COVID-19 infections that is affecting our community’s health and reopening plans,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s chief health officer, during a virtual press conference. “The virus is not only still out there, it is further than ever. It continues to spread locally in our community and throughout the Bay Area region. ”
Colfax said Monday that each person with the disease was infecting, on average, 1.25 more, a proportion he said had to decrease.
On Wednesday, that figure was 1.3. The so-called reproduction rate should be reduced to one or less, he said. “If we don’t do better,” he said, “we are seeing major problems in late August and September with an average peak of 900 hospitalized patients in early October.”
Hospital capacity in the city was still good this week, Colfax said. 27% of acute beds remained available, as well as 28% of intensive care beds. During the latest increase, in April, hospitalizations in San Francisco peaked at 94. He said there were 92 COVID-19 patients in San Francisco hospitals on Wednesday. Of these, 76 were residents and 16 were transferred from other places.
When asked about the reopening of schools, Colfax said the infection rate must decrease before school buildings are opened for classes.
“We will make a decision on whether it is safe to open those physical spaces depending on where we encounter the virus and the increase in our city when the time comes,” he said. The new cases come from people socializing at parties and barbecues with friends and family, he said, and from essential workers in companies that don’t adhere to precautions.
San Francisco is now in the “red zone” due to increased broadcasts. The city has 7.7 cases per 100,000 residents, he said. The goal was to keep that rate at 1.8.
Hospitalizations for coronavirus infection are increasing by 33%, Colfax said: “That is red and is of serious concern.” The goal is to keep hospitalization increases below 10%.
However, the tests were in good shape, averaging 2,950 tests per day in the city. Contact trackers were reaching 85% of those infected and 85% of their contacts, he said. He warned that those percentages would likely drop this week due to delays in obtaining test results from overwhelmed labs.
