Unlike recent temperatures, California’s COVID summer may no longer be heating up — though officials caution the virus continues to circulate at levels plenty high enough to pack a potent infectious punch. Any discernible slowdown would still be welcome news for the virus-weary state, however. And although it’ll take a few more weeks of measurement to confirm the trajectory, health officials hope the release of updated vaccines will help further dent the wave.
“It’s not gone away. It’s just lower. It’s just gone from ‘very high’ to ‘high,’” said Dr.
Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. California has endured “high” levels of coronavirus in its wastewater since early June, and “very high” levels since July. But for the week ending Aug.
31, the most recent data available, California’s coronavirus sewage levels fell back to “high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California is also now one of 16 states in which COVID is estimated to be “declining” or “likely declining,” the agency said. COVID levels in wastewater are considered “high” or “very high” in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and “moderate” in four. There were no estimates for the two remaining states, according to the CDC.
Other states where COVID is estimated to be “declining” or “likely declining,” the CDC said, include Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. COVID is thought to be “g.