Newer coronavirus subvariants ticking up in California amid concerns of winter wave
Updated 4:46 pm, Wednesday, April 17, 2020
Caption
Huaning Yang of San Diego is seen in this undated photo provided by her family.
Huaning Yang of San Diego is seen in this undated photo provided by her family.
Photo: Contributed Photo
Newer coronavirus subvariants ticking up in California amid concerns of winter wave
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California has now seen its share of new coronavirus cases.
So far, the state has seen four times as many cases as the previous coronavirus in China, which peaked late last year.
The new virus, which has infected more than 16,000 people in China alone, has spread quickly across the world in recent weeks amid a global shutdown.
Now, with two state governments and the Chinese government trying to contain the virus, there are fears that California could potentially see another spike and that the region could become a hot spot.
It’s a concern that is only set to increase with the onset of winter and another freeze.
“Now that it’s getting warmer, they’re going to get more cases,” said Dr. Matthew Larkin, a family physician and an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Our concern is that we’re going to end up seeing a spike in cases, and when we do we’d be concerned about the severity because people are more susceptible to being infected.”
While there have been only five new cases in the Bay Area in the past two weeks, the Bay Area is still home to the majority of the cases and is already seeing a spike.
The new cases bring the Bay Area total to nearly 800, compared to more than 8,000 for all of Los Angeles County, as of Tuesday.
A lot could change this week with the arrival of winter in California.
“So far there’s no reason to believe this is going to stay in that same pattern for too long,” said Larkin. “It’s going to be a change of pace.”
With so many people staying home to avoid the spread of the virus, it’s not likely to be long before we