The increase in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations in San Francisco has slowed, but a further increase may occur in mid-January because of the holidays, the city’s public health director said on Tuesday.
Dr. Grant Colfax, the health director, said at a news conference that city hospitals now have many beds available in their intensive care units, although the space available for ICU beds across the bay area has dropped to 5 , 9% of capacity.
“We remain in a serious and critical position, but our collective actions are making a difference,” said Colfax.
The rate of increase in infections “appears to be decreasing,” said Colfax, but it is “plausible” that the city may “see a sharp increase in the coming weeks”.
Colfax began his comments by expressing support for residents of Southern California and the Central Valley, regions he said were experiencing “terrible” and “catastrophic” pandemic conditions.
He said that San Francisco hospitals now have four COVID-19 patients from outside the city and can receive more patients from other regions with a shortage of intensive care beds.
The state Department of Public Health is distributing the vaccines to health professionals, who then receive the doses directly from vaccine manufacturers, said Colfax. The vaccines will be distributed according to the priorities established by the state.
San Francisco has yet to detect a new, potentially more infectious strain of the virus that has spread rapidly in Britain and was found in the United States, including southern California.
Still, Colfax said, he would not be surprised if the strain was discovered in the city or elsewhere in the bay area.
The city’s Department of Public Health has vaccinated more than 6,000 people so far, most of them first-rate health workers in city-run health facilities, including Hospital Laguna Honda, one of the largest qualified nursing units in the country.
By the end of this Tuesday, Colfax said, more than 90% of Laguna Honda residents will have received the first dose of the vaccine. Fifteen residents and 34 employees at Laguna Honda were diagnosed with COVID-19.
The city does not have an excess of vaccines, Colfax said.
“At the moment, demand far exceeds supply,” he said.
About 80,000 people living or working in San Francisco will be vaccinated during the first round of distribution, he said.
“Please know,” he added, “we hope that everyone who wants the vaccine will eventually get it.”
Mayor London Breed, who also spoke at the news conference, emphasized that residents should hope.
“The vaccine is here,” she said. “These are difficult times, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”