Counting down to Christmas means more counting of COVID-19 cases for the county’s public health officials.
And with the new Omicron variant and still questions about it and the vaccine mandates going into effect for city of San Diego employees and for students and staff in San Diego Unified, counting down the days to the holidays also means more concern about getting more people vaccinated so they can stay employed and can stay in school. And also protected before all those holiday gatherings happen to avoid another spike in cases after the holidays.
The county says that right now 75 percent of all residents of the county 5 years old and older have been fully vaccinated. And hundreds of thousands of adults have gotten a booster so far.
But only 19 percent of kids of elementary age have been vaccinated and San Diego County Public Health Director Dr. Wilma Wooten told supervisors that because people that become infected even before symptoms show up, it will be very hard to eliminate all risk of exposure at schools and prevent kids from spreading it to adults at home and then the workplace.
And that’s why county officials are moving to increase the availability of rapid testing that can be conducted at home so people learn if they’re infected more quickly and be able to avoid contact with others earlier.
In other words, doing more to slow the spread of the COVID virus will make for more spreading of holiday cheer this year.
(Photo Getty Images)