COVID-19 on the rise again in California as students head back to school

(FOX40.COM) — As many students are headed back to school, health departments are reporting a rise in COVID-19 cases in California.

According to the most recent available numbers reported by the California Department of Public Health, positivity rates for the COVID-19 test increased from 3.94% on July 5 to 7.91% on July 26. The numbers are still considered low, but they are now bordering on moderate.

FOX40 reached out to Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Health for some perspective on the numbers.

“We certainly have in increase in the number of cases that we’re seeing, an increase in the number of emergency department visits,” Blumberg said.

The uptick was predictable based on the results of wastewater sampling, according to Dr. Blumberg. He said kids going back to school will be susceptible.

“We haven’t had a COVID wave in a while,” Blumberg explained. “So that means susceptibility builds. So we’ll probably see an increasing number of cases, especially among teenagers, for example. And then we do expect the summer surge to peak probably the beginning of September or so.”

The current circulating variants, with nicknames like Nimbus and Stratus (XFG), may be very contagious, but not necessarily more dangerous than previous variants.

“It’s similar to what we’ve previously seen with Covid,” Blumberg said. “Primarily respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, muscle aches, things like that.”

Blumberg provided prevention tips that may sound familiar.

“Try to stay away from people who are sick,” Blumberg advised. “You can’t always do that. For people who are extra vulnerable to more severe disease or have high-risk conditions, you may want to consider wearing a mask if you’re in crowded situations.”

He also advised staying home from school or work if feeling sick. Thankfully, as COVID-19 has evolved, so has our ability to fight it.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, COVID was much worse to have than influenza for example, with much higher mortality rates and hospitalization rates,” Blumberg explained. “And now it’s about on par with influenza. So it still can be serious, but not as serious as it was at the beginning of the pandemic.”

For those patients already sick with COVID, treatments like Paxlovid can reduce the duration and severity of symptoms. But to be most effective, those medicines need to be taken soon after the onset of symptoms.