San Francisco, like much of the rest of California and the nation, is currently experiencing its highest COVID-19 rates since the pandemic began in March. With an average of 140 new cases per day, the rate of infection in the city is four times higher than it was a month ago, said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
"That is how fast the virus is multiplying throughout our community. And it shows no signs of slowing down," he said, noting that the impact of recent Thanksgiving travel is still unaccounted for.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the city, although still fewer than 100, have doubled in just the last 10 days, Colfax said.
"If this trend continues, we will see a hospital bed shortage around Christmas," he said. "We must slow the spread of this virus or we will continue to see hospitalizations and, unfortunately, death rates climb possibly to numbers that we have never seen before."
Speaking on World AIDS Day, Colfax compared the current pandemic with the health crisis that ravaged the city in the 1980s and '90s.
"We could not save lives because we did not yet have the tools to treat AIDS. But we came together as a city and worked together to find solutions," he said. "With this pandemic, we already have the knowledge. We know what it takes to fight the virus. This current surge should not cost us family, friends, neighbors and colleagues because we know what we need to do to protect lives."