California’s protracted summer COVID surge has finally ended, a welcome window that provides a key opportunity to prepare for yet another expected resurgence of transmission this autumn and winter, doctors say. Key to thwarting that threat is the availability of updated vaccines, which have been formulated to boost protection against recently dominant circulating coronavirus strains — the same approach used to develop the annual flu shot. That’s why doctors are urging everyone age 6 months and older to get an updated COVID vaccine, ideally before Halloween.
And unlike last year, the new shots have arrived on time and are plentiful. “The single most effective thing that [people] can do to protect themselves as we get into fall and winter is to get vaccinated,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a recent briefing . “We have an updated COVID vaccine, an updated flu vaccine, an RSV vaccine — all of those can help protect ourselves, our families, our communities.
” This summer’s COVID surge was particularly enduring. Viral levels in California wastewater were calculated as “high” or “very high” for 15 straight weeks, from the start of June through the first half of September, according to the CDC. That’s about as long as the 2022 midyear wave and twice as long as last year’s.
COVID levels in wastewater in California finally fell back into the “moderate” level for the week ending Sept. 21, the m.