SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — COVID-19 hospital admissions have inched upward in the United States since early July in a small-scale echo of the three previous summers.
The Eris subvariant is the new dominant strain of COVID-19 in San Diego County, the county confirmed in its latest data release Monday.
It comes as positivity rates in San Diego County reach their highest levels in months.
Doctors have noticed a summer spike in COVID-19 cases over the last several years, but the subvariant takeover is happening just before kids return to the classroom and as a new dominant strain takes over.
"We're getting people in urgent care, even virtual urgent care. People are coming to the ER," says Dr. Abisola Olulade, family medicine and chief impact officer with Sharp Rees-Stealy.
Dr. Olulade says a spike in positive test results is not unusual this time of the year. But the timing of it could be better.
"We're essentially going up with cases into the fall, where we know that people go inside even more, and we know cases go even higher in the fall," says Dr. Olulade.
The Eris variant has led to a growing number of hospitalizations nationwide and an 11.8% positivity rate in San Diego County.
"We know that (Eris) is very, very rapidly increasing all over the country. It became dominant, very, very quickly, that is suggestive of the fact that it may be quite contagious," she adds.
The number of cases and hospitalizations are still far fewer than during the holiday travel season last year.
But Dr. Olulade says with kids headed back inside for school, many of them are behind on vaccinations too.
"All of those are reasons why cases are going up," she says.
Doctor Olulade added that the Bivalent vaccine has proven effective at preventing hospitalizations for omicron variants. She's encouraging parents to ensure their kids are vaccinated before the school year.