California now the only state to exit CDC’s ‘high’ COVID transmission category - San Francisco Chronicle

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California no longer has “high” community levels of coronavirus transmission, according to data published Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an achievement a top state health official credited to broad vaccination uptake and public compliance with restrictions such as mask-wearing.

The state is now the only one in the country to reach the “substantial” tier of the agency’s risk chart for the first time since the rapid spread of the delta variant brought the summer COVID-19 surge, state epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said Tuesday.

According to the CDC’s color-coded map, all the other states have fallen back into the worst category, red, as California advances to the second-highest risk category, orange (along with Puerto Rico). Ahead of the latest wave of infections in July, the state was classified as yellow, indicating a lower level of transmission classified as “moderate.” In June, it was blue, which signals “low” virus spread.

Pan credited widespread adaptation of health orders and California’s impressive vaccination rate — about 68% of the state’s residents are now fully vaccinated — as factors in driving case rates down in the face of delta.

Coronavirus Pandemic

“Our mitigation measures, like masking, are going to work regardless of the variant,” Pan said during a roundtable discussion with medical professionals on Tuesday.

The United States as a whole remains at a “high” level of community transmission, according to the CDC, with a seven-day average of 248 new cases per 100,000 — more than two times higher than the threshold of 100 cases for the classification. To reach the “substantial” category, average case rates must dip between 50 and 99 per 100,000.

California reported an average of 9,281 cases a day for the seven-day period that ended Tuesday, compared to about 13,400 cases a day two weeks ago. Los Angeles County did not report any cases over the weekend due to a planned technical outage.

There are 6,810 people hospitalized with a confirmed case statewide, a 18.4% decrease over the same time period, according to an analysis of data provided by the state health department by The Chronicle.

Even though hospitalizations in the state, and especially the Bay Area, have stabilized, COVID-19 deaths and cases nationwide have climbed back to levels not seen since the winter surge.

With new cases concentrated in the South — driven by the delta variant combined with loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels — the U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels, respectively, since early March and late January.

Both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.

“I do think that this virus, and certainly delta, finds our most vulnerable,” Pan said. “I would like to say to our unvaccinated, ‘You do have a choice. Your choice is to get infected at some point or to get vaccinated.’”

Aidin Vaziri is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

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California now the only state to exit CDC’s ‘high’ COVID transmission category - San Francisco Chronicle
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