SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – COVID-19 cases appear to be on the rise again around San Diego County.
The latest numbers for June 1 from the San Diego County’s COVID-19 website show that there were 1,620 new cases reported, which was the highest in the last seven-day period.
Per the county, there were 711 new cases on May 31.
Dr. Davey Smith of UC San Diego said he believes the spike in cases could be due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
“Hope springs eternal in my chest that we are just seeing a little holiday bump. But I do think that we might be heading into a surge. This new variant, omicron BA.2, is actually super infectious,” Smith said. “So, it doesn’t take many people to get infected who can spread it to other people who get infected.”
Seeing the total case numbers jump isn’t surprising to some San Diegans.
“I mean, coming off of a holiday weekend, you know, people are traveling around, it’s only expected. I used to live in Las Vegas and it’s kind of the same thing out there, too. Everyone’s traveling after a holiday weekend and it’s just kind of a big cesspool,” said resident Sean Charsley.
And some have their concerns if another surge is coming with the case numbers spiking.
“I do feel like we have not considered the seriousness of this disease and this virus,” added resident Allison Kelly. “I do think, you know, we definitely need to take protective measures; still be wearing masks as we need to, protecting others especially the elderly. And we don’t want our hospitals to get back to those places anymore.”
According to Smith, there’s one silver lining with the most recent COVID numbers released by San Diego County.
“The good news is that hospitalizations and death haven’t really started to go up, and that’s the best news. I do think we’re going to have COVID around for the rest of our lives,” Smith said.
He added, “It’s probably going to become more of a seasonal virus, more so in the winter than in the summer. But, in the meantime, when it starts to become what we call endemic, it’s going to have a few of these waves that’ll hit.”
Smith told ABC 10News that during this time of seeing cases go up, people should be using their home antigen tests. He is urging those who test positive to stay home and continue to look out for those who do have compromised immune systems.