The pandemic surged to unprecedented levels due to the Omicron variant in San Diego county, where the rate exceeds seven infections per minute, the death rate approaches one every hour.
The county Health and Human Services Agency reported that Omicron accounts for about 90 percent of new COVID-19 positive infections county-wide. This comes about a month since the county registered the first case with that variant on December 8.
Almost 3 out of every ten tests to detect COVID-19 have a positive result; 27.9 percent.
Infections continue to increase. Omicron has been able to infect people who were vaccinated but not completely. It especially infects those who have not been vaccinated.
Scientists in Boswana, where Omicron emerged in South Africa, say that the new variant is at least 4 times more contagious than Delta. Individuals who are partially vaccinated and contract Omicron experience milder symptoms. On the other hand, unvaccinated populations are at risk of hospitalization and death.
San Diego County reports that 78.5 percent of people now eligible for vaccination –2 million 470 thousand residents — have already been fully vaccinated, and together with those who have been vaccinated with at least one dose, they add up to 88.6 percent, of which there are almost 2 million 788 thousand people.
In San Diego County, almost 360,000 people remain unvaccinated and it is in that community where Omicron causes the most damage.
