Los Angeles, California – California is riding out another summer surge of COVID-19. The numbers aren’t abstract—they’re showing up in wastewater, in test results, and in a slow but steady climb of hospital admissions. Health officials across the state are urging people to pay attention, because the signs all point in one direction: the virus is circulating more widely, again.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says California’s sewage is showing “high” levels of coronavirus. That might not sound like much, but sewage is one of the best early-warning systems for viral spread. And across the West, wastewater levels are higher than anywhere else in the country. The numbers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento all tell the same story: COVID-19 isn’t gone—it’s humming in the background, waiting for an opening.
In Yolo County, just west of Sacramento, Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson put it plainly: “California is experiencing a summer COVID wave.” She’s gone so far as to recommend that everyone in West Sacramento mask up indoors, not just the elderly or immunocompromised. That’s because the sewage there is testing at high levels. Other parts of her county, where viral loads are “medium,” have narrower recommendations—masking for people at greater risk or those who spend time around them…