SAN JOSE, Calif. — COVID-19 cases are surging in the Bay Area and California since Thanksgiving, as holiday gatherings appear to have fueled the virus’ spread among a pandemic-weary public no longer masking or lining up for the latest vaccine booster.
Cases in the nine-county Bay Area have jumped from an average of eight daily cases per 100,000 residents in late October to over 13 at the end of November, an 80% increase. Every Bay Area county is in at least the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s second-highest substantial transmission level, and Santa Clara and Solano counties already are at the high level. Santa Clara and Marin counties have risen from the CDC’s low to medium community level, reflecting the virus’ impact on local hospitals.
“We are seeing a Thanksgiving effect,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley. But he’s not surprised, as the rise started before the recent holidays. And with Christmas and New Year’s celebrations around the corner “there is no question in my mind that we’re going to see a rise in cases,” he said. “The question is what the slope will look like.”
