California confronts omicron

Amid a rapid spike in COVID-19 cases and intense pressure to expand testing capacity ahead of the winter holidays, California is ratcheting up its approach to tackle the quickly spreading omicron variant.

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new plan on Dec. 22 to expand the hours of operation at strained COVID-19 testing sites and provide 6 million rapid tests for K-12 public school students.

The governor’s announcement came less than 24 hours after he unveiled a new mandate that California’s health care workers get booster shots.

“We recognize now that just being vaccinated, fully vaccinated, is not enough with this new variant,” Newsom said during a news briefing at Alameda County’s Native American Health Center. “And we believe it’s important to extend this requirement to getting that third dose, to getting boosted.”

California is beginning to see a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, mirroring a national trend. Case rates have doubled in California over the past week, jumping from about 5,400 confirmed cases to nearly 11,000, according to state data.

During that time, the state’s test positivity rate has risen from 2.3% to 3.3%.

The number of omicron variant cases detected in California has quadrupled in the last seven days, rising from 49 on Dec. 15 to 191 confirmed on Wednesday.

Although omicron currently is less prevalent in California than in many other states, officials warn it will be widespread within days or weeks. Newsom on Dec. 22 said that “well north of 50%” of cases in California were of the omicron variant.

As of Dec. 22, Santa Clara County had confirmed 59 omicron cases — up from 10 a week earlier. San Francisco had identified 32 omicron cases, Alameda County reported 10 cases, and Contra Costa County had four cases. San Mateo County has not yet recorded any omicron cases.

“It’s important to note that the situation is rapidly evolving and, by now, we expect omicron is already spreading locally,” Neetu Balram of the Alameda County Public Health Department wrote in an email.

“There is a significant risk of rapid growth in COVID-19 cases in our region, and we should be prepared to see more cases in the coming days and weeks.”

To prevent a similar strain on hospitals and intensive care units, which happened during earlier points in the pandemic, officials are urging residents to get a booster shot. So far, 8.7 million Californians — or about 22% — have received a booster, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

“We need to increase that number if we’re going to hold the line and decrease the growth for hospitals and our ICUs,” Newsom said.

The state’s health care workers, who already are required to be fully vaccinated with either two doses of Moderna or

Pfizer or a dose of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, will now be required to get a booster shot by Feb. 1. Those who have not yet been boosted will have to undergo testing twice a week.

The new booster requirement applies to workers in health care settings, such as hospitals, skilled nursing centers and doctor’s offices, as well as other congregate care settings, such as nursing homes and home health workers.

To reduce the spread of COVID-19 in schools across the state, California will offer every K-12 public school student access to 1-2 free coronavirus tests before returning from winter break next month, reaffirming the state’s commitment to keeping schools open for in-person instruction in 2022.

“I do not want to see our schools shut down,” Newsom said. “… Let there be no doubt that is our commitment, that is our priority.”

Hoping to alleviate some of the pressure on testing sites, California also is expanding rapid test availability and hours of operation at state-operated testing sites that have reached capacity.

Local officials and public agencies across the state are also taking their own steps to reduce the chance of coronavirus spread in their regions.

The Oakland City Council voted unanimously Dec. 21 to require people to show proof of full vaccination to enter restaurants, theaters, fitness centers and other indoor businesses.

Stanford University announced it will require students to get booster shots by Jan. 31.