Health officials in 11 counties urged residents across the greater Bay Area Friday to once again take COVID-19 precautions like masking as cases and hospitalizations rise across the region.
Officials in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties said in a joint statement that the Bay Area now has one of the state’s highest infection rates.
The current surge has been spurred by an extremely contagious subvariant, known as BA.2, of the already highly contagious omicron variant.
“If you’ve chosen not to wear a mask in indoor public places recently, now is a good time to start again,” said Santa Clara County deputy health officer Dr. George Han said in a statement.
The health officials also called on those who have not yet gotten vaccinated to do so and urged people who test positive for the virus to seek over-the-counter medications like Paxlovid that reduce the risk of developing serious complications from the infection.
