COVID-19 cases rise, County urges people to get vaccinated, boosted

COVID-19 cases are slightly rising in San Diego County, prompting County health officials to continue calls for people to complete their vaccination series and get bivalent boosters if they haven’t already.

“The best way for people to protect themselves, their loved ones and friends from possibly getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19 continues to be getting up to date with your vaccinations and get a bivalent booster,” said County Deputy Public Health Officer, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, M.D., M.P.H. “Even though COVID-19 cases are far below historic highs, the virus is still widespread. And it remains a potentially deadly threat for many people.”

Studies continue to report the bivalent COVID-19 boosters add protection against new COVID-19 variants that make up most new cases in San Diego County, and they protect against COVID-19 causing hospitalizations and deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommend a bivalent booster for everyone six months of age and older. Previous CDC studies have reported that people who have not been vaccinated run much higher risks of dying from COVID-19 than those who have been vaccinated.

Both COVID-19 vaccinations and treatment remain widely available throughout San Diego County. COVID-19 primary series vaccines and bivalent boosters, as well as flu vaccines, are available at local pharmacies, medical providers’ offices, and County vaccination sites. People can check online for the days and hours sites are open.

Preventive Measures 

In addition to getting vaccinations and staying home when ill, San Diegans can take other precautions to protect themselves against COVID-19 and other seasonal illnesses like the flu. These measures include:

Cleaning hands thoroughly and often.
Staying away from sick people.
Wearing a facial covering, especially in crowded indoor settings.
Regularly cleaning commonly touched surfaces.
Conducting home testing when exposed or when ill. The federal government is providing free at-home COVID-19 tests available again through the winter for a limited time. Households can order one pack of four free tests through the U.S. Postal Service. For more information about testing, go to the County’s COVID-19 testing webpage.

COVID-19 Vaccination Progress

More than 2.69 million or 80.6% of San Diegans have received the primary series of one of the approved COVID-19 vaccines.
Bivalent boosters administered: 572,085 or 22.8% of 2,514,110 eligible San Diegans.
More vaccination information can be found at coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine.

The County Health and Human Services Agency now publishes the Respiratory Virus Surveillance Report weekly. The report is published each Thursday and tracks key respiratory illness indicators.

COVID-19 Data

For the week ending Feb. 11, 2023, the report shows:

1,916 COVID-19 cases were reported to the County in the past seven days. The region’s total is now 981,076.
The 1,916 cases reported in the past week were higher compared to the 1,755 infections identified the previous week.
Fourteen additional deaths were reported in the week ending Feb. 11, 2023. The region’s total is 5,759.
Ten of the people who died were 65 or older.
Nine of the people had been vaccinated and five were unvaccinated or had not completed the primary vaccine series.
All 14 had underlying medical conditions.

Influenza Data

For the week ending Feb. 11, 2023, the report shows the following:

No additional flu deaths were reported; the season’s total is 40.
Emergency department visits for influenza-like illness: 3% of all visits (compared with 3% the previous week).
Lab-confirmed influenza cases for the week: 59 (compared to 77 the previous week).
Total lab-confirmed cases to date: 20,869 (compared to 1,549 at the same time last season and a 7,852 prior 5-year average during the same week).

More Information

Data updates to the County’s coronavirus-sd.com website will be published Thursdays around 5 p.m., with the exception of holidays. More information about the flu is available on the County’s influenza website.