California no longer has “high” levels of coronavirus transmission in the community, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state joins two others, Vermont and Connecticut, to improve to reach the agency’s “substantial” level of risk chart for the first time since the rapid spread of the delta variant led to the summer growth of COVID -19.
California is the only major state to have advanced from the worst category, with red codes on the CDC map, to the second highest risk category, orange.
Prior to the last wave of infections in July, it was classified as yellow, indicating a lower level of transmission classified as “moderate.” In June, it was blue, indicating a “low” spread of the virus.
Pan credited a high uptake of vaccination and widespread compliance with health orders as factors that reduce the case rate. More than 68% of California residents are fully vaccinated.
“Our mitigation measures, such as masking, will work regardless of the variant,” Pan said during a roundtable discussion with medical professionals on Tuesday.
According to the CDC, the United States generally remains at a “high” level of community transmission, with a seven-day average of 248 new cases per 100,000, more than twice the 100-case threshold for classification. To reach the “substantial” category, average case rates must drop between 50 and 99 per 100,000.
Although hospitalizations in California, and especially in the Bay Area, have stabilized, deaths and cases for COVID-19 across the country have returned to levels not seen since the winter rise.
With new cases concentrated in the south, driven by the delta variant combined with restrictions on loose masks and low levels of vaccination, the U.S. averaged more than 1,800 deaths from COVID-19 and 170,000 new cases a day, the highest levels, respectively, since of early March and late January.
Both figures have risen over the past two weeks.
“I think this virus, and certainly the delta, finds our most vulnerable,” Pan said. “I would like to say to our unvaccinated,‘ You have a choice. Your choice is to get infected at some point or get vaccinated. “
Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]