Health Officials Concerned Over COVID-19 Uptick With Heat Wave Ahead

California public health officials say while COVID-19 markers had been trending downward since the state's peak in early July, they’re starting to see an uptick in cases and hospitalizations over the past several days.

Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said at a press conference Friday that there's cause for concern as the state heads into a hot weekend where people may mix and mingle more.

“It really is about not letting our guard down as we did earlier in the summer as we watch some of these numbers trend in the direction that we don't want to see, which is upward,” Ghaly said.

Several factors could be driving the reversal, Ghaly said, including the lagged effects of Labor Day weekend socializing, switching over to the state’s new tiered system which allowed more reopenings to go forward, as well as fires and evacuations, a factor partially due to increased social contact in shared spaces such as emergency shelters.

Ghaly said more mixing is expected as counties meet the requirements to be downgraded a tier.

“We knew on Monday that up to 16 counties could move from the tier they're in now to a new tier this coming week, which really signifies that the system is working,” Ghaly said.

To be downgraded a tier, a county must show it has control over local transmission by meeting the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks. Alameda, San Mateo and Solano counties moved down from purple (widespread) to red (substantial) on Tuesday, allowing them to resume more indoor business operations.

On Thursday, Ghaly warned a severe flu season could overwhelm hospitals that are preparing for an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

“We've never done COVID hospitalizations with flu hospitalizations,” he reiterated Friday, adding that seeing numbers close to what the state saw over the summer alongside the flu would be

—Julie Chang (@BayAreaJulie)