COVID: San Francisco Cases Drop Dramatically; Health Experts Caution Against Letting Guard Down
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The Embarcadero was noticeably busier Saturday night, in terms of car and foot traffic, than it was in weeks past.
As the Bay Area opens up, California health officials don't want the region to experience another setback.
Floyd Newsome and his family drove up from Bakersfield to enjoy some of their favorite things about Fisherman's Wharf this weekend.
"Just have some seafood, eat on the pier," said Newsome. "We pretty much we followed the rules, and we continue to follow the rules, not to break them because they were made to save us."
San Francisco recently saw its lowest COVID case rate since the pandemic began. Currently, the city's 7-day average of daily cases is 29, compared to 374 during the winter surge.
"We've kind of stuck to staying outside which is nice...it's exciting that there are more outdoor options that we didn't have before," said Lauren Balcioni of Pacifica. "So I think a lot of good's come out of it."
Still cases are on the rise in half the states and people are dying.
"The 7-day average of deaths continues to hover at 1,000 deaths per day. I remain deeply concerned about this trajectory," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.
Most states will make vaccines available to all residents 16 and older by May 1. California will do so two weeks earlier.
Scientists are still trying to figure out if vaccinated people can spread the virus. They're studying 12,000 vaccinated college students and their contacts to try and answer that.
"We hope that, within the next five or so months, we'll be able to answer the very important question about whether vaccinated people get infected asymptomatically and if they do, do they transmit the infection to others?" said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
As of Saturday, 43% of San Franciscans over 16 years old have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine.
