San Francisco sees significant COVID-19 spikes

COVID-19 cases in San Francisco have significantly increased in the past several days. 

Data from the city and county of San Francisco, which lags by five days, showed that the most recent data from Dec. 16 reported 279 new cases, over five times the 53 cases that were reported just days before on Dec. 12. 

The area currently has a 7-day rolling case average of 88 cases per day, and 80 percent of residents in San Francisco are fully vaccinated.

While the case numbers represent a significant spike, the city’s COVID-19 infections are still significantly lower than the current rates for other U.S. cities. 

As of Tuesday, Chicago had a daily case average of 2,069 new cases, up from 1,029 the previous week, according to data from the city. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, 3,052 new cases were reported on Tuesday, the county’s public health department reported. 

Still, Grant Colfax, the city and county of San Francisco’s director of health, has attributed the spike in cases to the omicron variant. Colfax told The San Francisco Chronicle that the city has seen 32 cases of omicron thus far, but he anticipates many more are to come. 

The concerns over omicron, which is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in the U.S., have prompted the Golden State to take additional COVID-19 measures. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) is expected to announce on Wednesday a booster mandate for health care workers.

The state has also recently reimposed certain policies seen earlier in the pandemic including a statewide indoor mask mandate set to be in place until at least Jan. 15. The mandate was previously lifted this summer, though counties were permitted to continue enforcing it at their local discretion.