San Francisco seeing 829 new COVID cases daily as omicron's expected peak nears

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco leaders say the omicron variant in the city will get worse before it gets better. City leaders say they expect this latest COVID wave to peak within the next two weeks.

After 21 months in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco finds itself once again facing a surge in cases, this time fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant. 

"The next few weeks are critical," said Dr. Grant Colfax from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. "We will see large outbreaks, and many people we know and love are getting COVID."

The latest data show that an average of 829 San Franciscans are now testing positive for COVID every day, up from 309 cases per day a week ago. That number expected to increase, with more fallout following holiday get-togethers. "We are expecting a peak in these cases relatively quickly," said Dr. Colfax. "Our projections show, again this situation is fluid, the cases will peak within the next two weeks."

The Bay Area saw a similar surge this time last year, following the holidays. The difference now, in San Francisco 81% of the population is vaccinated, most boosted. The breakthrough infections tend to be mild. "But the sheer number of people being infected does affect hospitalizations," said Dr. Colfax. 

SEE ALSO: CDC director: Omicron variant mostly mild so far

70% of the COVID patients are being admitted for the respiratory illness. 30% of cases are found in patients brought to the hospital for other reasons. "With omicron, hospitalizations are much lower relative to COVID cases," said Dr. Colfax. "Even as hospitalizations increase again most people with COVID will not experience severe disease. This is good news."

The current surge is expected to touch nearly every part of the city. Businesses around town are seeing employees out with COVID or quarantining after an exposure.

In the public realm, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says operators have been calling in sick, impacting most routes; meaning longer wait times for passengers.

Health leaders say they will be keeping public schools open, and the risk posed by forcing students to return to remote learning outweigh the risk of the omicron variant. 

"We're not shutting anything down," said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. "We're not closing businesses. This is not 2020. But, we do need to do our part too many front-line workers from getting sick at the same time. That means we need people to take steps to avoid catching COVID."

With the rise in hospitalizations, health leaders say at this point the city can handle the increase in patients; with adequate space in emergency rooms and equipment.

The city is also working to increase testing capacity and source and distribute testing kits for people to monitor infections.