California might face yet another Covid-19 winter surge despite decent vaccination rate

California – While the White House and President Joe Biden are doing everything in their power to make those vaccinate hesitant to get the vaccine, some people still strongly oppose the Covid-19 vaccine.

Vaccines are working. This was confirmed by numerous studies showing that Covid-19 vaccines keep the those fully vaccinated safe from severe condition and death in most of the cases.

Last year the country faced the winter Covid-19 surge and that has been the deadliest Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. While California has a decent vaccination rate compared to many other states, there might be another winter Covid-19 surge this year or at least that’s what UCSF’s epidemiologist Dr. Rutherford believes.

“This may be the start of a winter surge,” said Dr. George Rutherford, UCSF Professor of Epidemiology.

According to the latest data, at least 61% of the Californians are vaccinated as of now. Winter months and the cold weather will however, significantly increase the Covid-19 risk as people will start to gather indoors more than usual.

“We are seeing an increase. Cases are up about 20 percent of where they were two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are up about six percent. To me, that is worrisome but it can go right back down,” said Dr. Rutherford.

The increasing trend of cases started around two weeks ago. That is confirmed by the official Covid-19 data, but also from people who are directly involved in the testing process. According to Salu Ribeiro, the founder of “Bay PLS” a company focused on COVID testing and vaccinations across the Bay Area, they saw increasing number of cases roughly two weeks ago too.

“It’s about two percent to three percent positivity rate. When was the last time you noticed an increase like this one? Similar to last year at the same time. We are seeing a trend. If you see the map of the COVID test from last year to this year,” said Ribeiro.

The recent approval of the Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 might help and slow down a potential spread, but experts believe that won’t be enough. The best way to avoid the last year’s scenario is to avoid indoor gatherings, wear face masks when possible, maintain social distance and get the booster dose of the vaccine.