‘The pandemic is still here’: California braces for Omicron even as strain from Delta continues

Omicron threatens to overwhelm facilities in the state’s rural north and Central Valley as many remain unvaccinated

As health officials confirmed the first US case of the Omicron variant in California this week, the state’s rural north and Central Valley were still battling a wave of cases linked to the Delta variant and low vaccination rates.

In Siskiyou county, near the Oregon border, cases were up 245% this week and an automated message from the public health department warned officials were overwhelmed with calls linked to the latest surge. Much of the north of the state is considered at very high risk of Covid-19 transmission and in some areas, ICUs are nearly at capacity.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3Ik8kVB