SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, some businesses have either had to close or change the way they do business.
In Sacramento, shops like Mikuni's and Chando's Tacos have chosen close their dining areas as they deal with increasing case rates.
On Wednesday, ABC10 checked in with local infectious disease expert Dr. Dean Blumberg, head of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Medical Center. In brief, he says there's a light at the end of this tunnel.
Dr. Blumberg and ABC10's Mike Duffy sat down to discuss the ins and outs of the omicron surge and when relief might be in sight.
Q&A with Dr. Blumberg
Q: When will COVID peak in California?
A: “Some of the best models suggest that we already hit the peak in terms of daily infections in California. That should continue to decrease. This current surge should continue to get better.”
Q: What about hospitalizations and ICU admissions?
A: “However, hospitalizations and ICU admissions, those tend to follow by a week or two after the peak and so what we’re expecting is that hospital resource use is expected to peak in California sometime towards the end of this month.”
Q: What do parents need to know?
A: “We also know specifically for example with children, that MIS-C, the multi-system inflammatory syndrome, in children generally follows acute infection by two to four weeks. So if we saw the peak this week with acute infections, we expect more hospital infections for MIS-C over the next two to four weeks.”
Q: After this, will we be done with variants?
A: “Oh no, we’re not going to be done with variants. I don’t think we’ll ever be done for variants. It’s similar to influenza. I think they’re will always be strains circulating. There’s always going to be change in the strains that are circulating. But what we can hope for is that the variants will develop less frequently, and that as we build up at least partial immunity, that when we get these surges, that they result in mild infection... because people have partial immunity, either from vaccination hopefully or previous infection.”
WATCH ALSO:
