Deaths and hospitalizations in California continue declining, according to wastewater data

Meanwhile, in the US overall, Covid have continued to decline since November 2023

Contra Costa county only requires health care workers to mask seasonally, from November 1 to April 30, to reduce the spread of Covid, influenza, and RSV.

As of July 29, the latest data available, 13 percent of nearly 9,000 tests in the area came back positive, a one percent increase from the week before.

Dr Sofe’ Mekuria, Contra Costa County deputy health officer, told local news station KRON4 that the area is mainly seeing cases of the ‘FLiRT’ strains, a variation of Omicron responsible for most infections across the US.

Meanwhile, deaths in California have neared historic lows, with just four deaths reported the week of July 29, half that from this time last year.

Nationwide, 304 deaths from Covid were reported to the CDC during the same week, a 46 percent drop from this time last year. In early 2021, during peak pandemic, over 26,000 deaths were reported to the CDC.

Dr Mekuria noted that while hospitalizations and deaths have remained steady, vaccination rates in the area are declining.

‘We do anticipate a new COVID vax that will have newer strains of COVID that should be coming out this summer or early fall. Potentially as soon as this September,’ she said.

The recommendations come after recent research has suggested that masks may no longer be as effective as they were earlier in the pandemic.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia, for example, found in a May study that masks’ protective effect seemed to disappear in February 2022, around the same time that California lifted its mandates.

The team believed this was due to the Omicron variant, which later mutated into FLiRT, being too infectious for masks to prevent it.

Contra Costa residents told KRON4 that despite the recommendations, few people were actually wearing masks.

‘I do sometimes see people wearing masks. It’s few and far between. Usually older people,’ resident Connie Koplan said.