California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that a winter COVID-19 surge could hit California soon as cases tick up across the state.
- “I know you’re sitting here with masks and going, ‘Why ... I do I still have this mask on?’” Newsom said, per The Sacramento Bee. “For good reason.”
COVID-19 case rates ticked up recently in California, hitting a 2.3% positivity rate. That’s a lot less than the 17% positivity rate from winter 2020. But Newsom said he expects cases to climb soon since states with colder weather are already seeing numbers climb, according to The Sacramento Bee.
- “We’ll get through it,” he said. “But it’s going to require all of us.”
Experts expressed worry last week that Los Angeles may face a fifth COVID-19 wave as the city and the greater Los Angeles County have experienced an uptick in cases, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
In fact, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told reporters last Thursday that a new surge could hit soon.
- “It’s troubling to continue to see a slight uptick in cases and now, obviously, no decline in our hospitalizations,” Ferrer said, per Deadline. “I think it’s too soon to say whether we’re in a fifth wave or not. We’re hoping at best it’s a small bump up and nothing near like last winter.”