SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – COVID-19 case numbers appear to be slowing down across San Diego County, but the region may still not be at the peak of the omicron variant surge.
Numbers from Jan. 14-17 to this most recent four-day stretch showed there were a little more 6,000 fewer positive cases reported.
From Jan. 21-24, there were 29,180 new reported cases compared to the 35,454 cases from Jan. 14-17.
The numbers from this past weekend showed consecutive declines in new reported case numbers from Friday (10,192), Saturday (7,173) and Sunday (5,482). There were 6,333 new reported cases on Monday, but that's 1,680 fewer cases reported on Jan. 17 (8,013).
It’s a downward trend that gives some in the medical community hope when it comes to reaching a peak in the most recent surge.
“Definitely when we see the hospitalization numbers down, the ICU numbers down and deaths start to come down, we can then definitely say we’re on the downslide for sure. But we are very hopeful,” said Dr. William Tseng with Kaiser Permanente San Diego.
“I mean we see these numbers -- these case numbers coming down -- we’re very hopeful that we’re on the downside,” Tseng added.
The county’s data on Monday showed an increase of 92 hospitalizations.
Local registered nurse Nathan Poliakoff said even though there appears to be a decline, the emergency rooms are still strained.
“If they’re showing decline, that’s great. But it’s the ER; we’re slammed, we’re really busy … seeing a lot of COVID,” Poliakoff said.
ABC 10News asked Poliakoff what changes he saw in his hospital during the last peak of surging COVID cases.
“I guess last time, it wasn’t like a slow decline. It just kind of stopped. It was like one day, we just were covered in COVID. And a couple of days later, it was hardly any COVID,” Poliakoff said.
Tseng feels the downward trend could be different than the last.
“I don’t think it’s going to decline as rapidly as South Africa’s data showed. I think it’s going to be a slower decline,” Tseng said. “So, I’m thinking in the next two to three weeks, we should expect to see it come down.”
While there might be a slight decreasing trend in cases, Tseng said people need to be vigilant.
“What I want to make sure is that we continue to drop on the peak and not have a double bump which you can see sometimes,” Tseng said.
