Bay Area Welcomes 2022 as COVID-19 Cases Continue to Surge

The caller twelvemonth is already starting to look a batch similar 2021 connected the pandemic beforehand arsenic the omicron variant drives up infections and hospitalizations.

It was quiescent Saturday nighttime connected field astatine the College of San Mateo, but they’ll beryllium ringing successful 2022 successful existent pandemic signifier with walk-up and drive-up covid investigating Sunday morning.

The field is 1 of galore sites wherever you tin get a trial earlier traveling, returning to enactment oregon heading backmost to school.

With a shortage of accelerated at-home tests the unit to get students of each ages tested earlier going backmost to class, Monday is going to beryllium tricky.

The pandemic continues to deed galore of america with caller challenges but determination whitethorn beryllium crushed for optimism arsenic 2022 matures. “There are a batch of unknowns, but one consciousness similar astatine immoderate constituent the pandemic volition end. After all, each pandemics bash end,” UCSF Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.

But Chin-Hong added that it’s not each bully news, astatine slightest not successful the contiguous short-term pursuing vacation exposures from Thanksgiving done New Year’s Day.

“I deliberation these adjacent 2 weeks are going to beryllium captious for disruptions successful our mundane life, due to the fact that radical are going to beryllium sick successful the workforce,” helium said.

But Chin-Hong told NBC Bay Area’s Thom Jensen that aft galore radical past a fewer much weeks of pandemic hardships similar staffing shortages that pb to everything from agelong waits astatine restaurants to formation cancellations, galore tin optimistically could expect to person months of normalcy.

As much radical get vaccinations and boosters and much unvaccinated summation immunity from vulnerability to the virus, colonisation immunity volition improve.

“Where you look to spot what’s happening successful different areas during the wintertime similar Australia and New Zealand and usage that to foretell what mightiness hap successful North America during our winter,” Chin-Hong said.

Chin-Hong said that a caller much deadly and adjacent much contagious mutation of the microorganism could inactive amusement up this year, but helium added that helium stands by his connection that the pandemic volition extremity and possibly 2022 volition beryllium the year.