San Diego County sees a spike in hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 over the weekend.
On Saturday, state officials confirmed that the number of patients admitted into hospitals in San Diego County has increased to 261.
And as of last Friday, there’s been six additional deaths confirmed, with 539 newly reported COVID cases reported by San Diego County public officials.
A total of 22,825 new COVID tests were also reported to San Diego County on Friday, with a 3.2% increase in positive results confirmed.
Medics throughout the state fear that this winter’s flu season, combined with newly reported COVID cases, will complicate our healthcare system in the foreseeable future.
"If we have an average flu season this year on top of a swell of COVID cases, which I'm pretty sure we're going to see, that could stress our health care system," said Dr. John Swartzberg, a health expert and professor at UC Berkeley.
Health officials in San Diego highly-encouraged locals to get their booster shot as soon as they become eligible, as thousands of booster shots are on the verge of expiring by next month.
Scripps Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ghazala Sharieff says she hopes San Diego residents prevent those booster shots from expiring within the next month.
"We have about 10,000 doses between Moderna and Pfizer that we need to use by the end of December or they expire," She said. "We have been trying very hard to get people their boosters."
