San Mateo County health officials are warning of tripledemic

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have remained stable, keeping the county in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “low” community risk level in its COVID-19 tracking system. But hospitalizations have persisted with about 11 to 18 residents being treated any given day over the last couple of weeks and cases are still above where they were in May according to test and wastewater surveillance data, Deputy Chief of Health Curtis Chan said.

At the same time, new subvariants are beginning to spread in other parts of the world, influenza hospitalizations are up on the East Coast and other respiratory illnesses, referred to as RSVs, are being detected at higher rates in the county, Chan said. Officials are particularly concerned for infants, seniors and those with disabilities who are more likely to experience severe health complications if they contract a respiratory virus.

With these trends in mind, the health officials implored the public to seek updated vaccinations for both COVID-19 and the flu and to practice property safety precautions including getting tested, isolating when possible and wearing a quality face mask.

“Regardless of the test results, common sense prevails: People with a cough and fever probably have an infectious respiratory virus. They should wear a mask and avoid contacting others,” Chan said.

In addition to pharmacies, standing community clinics and large health care providers, the county, in partnership with community-based organizations, will be increasing vaccination access as cooler weather creeps in. Dr. Anand Chabra, medical director for Family Health Services, said 10 additional pop-up clinics will be online soon and officials are encouraging nonprofits and agencies to request assistance in hosting more.

To date, 17.5% of county residents ages 12 and older have received a bivalent booster, far fewer than the 92% of total residents who have completed their initial vaccination series. Still, Rogers noted the county is above the statewide average of 11.7% of residents who have been boosted.

Pointing to another positive, Chan noted most of the subvariants spreading across the world are sublineages from omicron, which means the bivalent booster will provide a strong defense against contracting the virus, hospitalization or experiencing severe symptoms.

Looking ahead, Chan said models are “all over the place” but ultimately indicate a winter surge. It’s unlikely conditions will resemble those last seen two winters ago when vaccines were not widely available, thousands of residents contracted the virus, and more than 320 residents died from COVID-19 related complications. Yet, they could mirror last year’s winter experience with the virus in which about 160 residents died, Chan said. Despite broad access to COVID-19 vaccines, Chan said hundreds still ended up in the hospital because booster uptake was relatively low.

A peak in infections from subvariants in Europe is also driving up concern given that a wave could hit California soon amid cooler weather, Chan said, stressing the importance of accessing a bivalent booster.

“We’re worried that that peak is going to coincide with winter and cause a larger surge of COVID cases,” Chan said. “That’s why we’re trying to communicate as much as possible for people to remain vigilant.”

Visit the County Health website at smchealth.org/coronavirus for more information on vaccination opportunities, testing sites and other COVID-19 data.