This is a very large surge that we are seeing currently. This is starting to rival, really, what we saw this past winter," said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. The alarming statistics indicate a significant increase in coronavirus levels in wastewater, which serve as a crucial indicator of overall COVID-19 trends in the community.
It's so surprising to me that it hasn't gone down yet," said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, adding, "It's a little bit more of a prolonged season for California." This insight underscores the unexpected duration and intensity of the current surge, suggesting that the state is experiencing a more extended outbreak that challenges previous seasonal expectations.
For the week that ended Aug. 10, coronavirus levels in sewage were 84% of last winter's peak in California, according to estimates posted Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This statistic points to the alarming resurgence of COVID-19, emphasizing how current wastewater readings are higher than all but one COVID peak in the last two years.
The rate at which COVID-19 tests are coming back positive continues to rise. In California, 14.7% of tests done at medical facilities came back positive over the week ending Aug. 12. This increase is notable as it represents a significant rise from a month ago when the positivity rate was only 10.6%, indicating a worrying upward trend.
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