Santa Clara County health leaders in a Tuesday briefing said there is a clear sign that COVID rates are rising, adding the county may see even more people contract coronavirus than what was reported during the omicron peak in January.
The amount of virus detected in wastewater shows Santa Clara County will likely soon see even more cases and hospitalizations, officials said.
"Our wastewater numbers are absolutely skyrocketing," Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said. "There's a ton of virus circulating. If you want to be healthy for the holidays, you need to take action and the first on the list is to get boosted."
The county reports 25% of eligible residents who are eligible for a bivalent booster have received one.
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Cody also recommends people wear a mask indoors in crowded areas, but said the county has no plans to require them.
"I don't see mandates returning," Cody said. "We are three years in and it is extremely difficult to mandate."
In addition to COVID, flu is a big concern with the CDC now saying flu activity in California is in the high range.
Not only is influenza sending more people to the hospital, it is causing a run on many over-the-counter medications.
RSV is also hitting early this year, with sick children filling up pediatric beds in droves. As of Tuesday, there were only two available pediatric intensive care beds and only six available pediatric hospital beds in Santa Clara County.
Cody said there may be some relief in the future for RSV.
"It's starting to plateau a bit so I hope we'll see an easing in pediatric hospitals," she said. "But we have not seen it yet."
It is also important to point out that now many people use at-home COVID tests and those cases are not reported, so COVID cases may be higher than what the data shows, which is why the wastewater numbers are important.
