Summer travel is helping fuel a COVID surge in California and other parts of the country.
More and more cases of COVID-19 among Democratic National Convention attendees are emerging. At least a dozen people in California — delegates, political strategists and journalists — reported testing positive after the Democratic National Convention ended last week in Chicago.
Democratic strategist Tracy Austin, who contracted COVID while attending the convention, told the Times: “It was an incredible time, but last week the DNCC showed up at the Democratic National Convention COVID.”
The next big test for the COVID outbreak is fast approaching.
Doctors will be watching closely to see if the start of the school year and the Labor Day holiday weekend worsen the surge. Last week, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said some data suggested a slowdown in new coronavirus infections in some parts of the country. But a decline in the summer surge won’t be evident until several weeks of sustained declines, which hasn’t happened yet.
Crowded airports and large indoor events have long been proven to spread the coronavirus, and this summer has broken travel records. The Transportation Security Administration said June 23 saw the highest number of passengers screened in a single day since the agency was founded: 2.99 million. Airports in Southern California have also reported a surge in passenger volume.
Many DNC events were held indoors, where the risk of infection for large groups is highest.
“This is going to happen any time you have 25,000 people packed into a venue, into hotels and into shuttle buses for four days, no matter what the occasion,” said Robin Swanson, a spokeswoman for the California Democratic Party. “But the biggest takeaway from our convention is the enthusiasm to elect Democrats across the country.”
Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional infectious disease chief at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said her first thought as a physician watching the DNC was, “Oh, no, almost no one is wearing masks.”
She said she remembers thinking, “There’s probably going to be a lot of COVID cases because of this.”
“You’re putting a lot of people together in an indoor space talking, laughing and yelling, which is actually a more effective way to spread COVID,” Hudson said. “Between all of that … the exposure time, we’re definitely going to see COVID.”
Although masks have gone out of style, they are still an effective tool to help prevent COVID-19, along with avoiding sick people, spending more time outdoors or in well-ventilated areas, washing or sanitizing your hands frequently, and staying up-to-date on your vaccinations.
“When you’re traveling, if you’re in an indoor space with a lot of people, to really reduce your risk of becoming COVID positive, you really should wear a mask,” Hudson said.
And “if you’re on a plane, if you’re in an airport, those are the times you really want to make sure you’re wearing a mask,” she added.
Updated COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-25 season are expected to be available as early as this week, and worldwide by September.
There are a number of reasons why this summer wave of COVID has been surprisingly strong.
One is the emergence of successive, hyperinfectious subvariants of the coronavirus. In the spring, some of the subvariants collectively dubbed FLiRT, including KP.2, triggered a mid-year surge. This was followed by increasingly contagious successor subvariants—KP.3 (nicknamed FLuQE, pronounced “fluke”)—and the latest, KP.3.1.1 (nicknamed deFLuQE, pronounced “de-fluke”).
In the latest subvariant, KP.3.1.1, “the particular variation that emerged in that mutation was a little bit different than what people had seen with natural immunity or with the vaccines that we had,” Hudson said.
“That made it much easier to go into a population where natural and vaccine-induced immunity was at its lowest,” Hudson said, when many people were almost a year or more since their last vaccination or COVID-19 illness.
There are now 26 states, including California, where COVID-19 is projected to be “increasing” or “likely increasing.” That’s down from 44 states about six weeks ago, according to the CDC.
The coronavirus test positivity rate continues to rise in California. For the week ending August 19, 14.4% of reported tests were positive. That’s higher than the peaks seen last summer and winter, and up from 11.5% a month ago.
Overall, coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater have remained largely stable in recent weeks, but remain at the highest level of the season.
How to protect yourself
- Get tested if you’re sick, and get tested every day. It can take longer after you’re sick for a rapid test to be positive. If an initial test is negative, you could still have COVID. Consider getting tested every day, up to five days after you start having cough and cold symptoms, Hudson said. A positive test can help you take steps to isolate more quickly and limit the spread of the disease.
- Plan to ask for Paxlovid if you get sick. Paxlovid is an antiviral medication that, when taken by people at risk of severe COVID-19 who have mild to moderate symptoms, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death. There are also other anti-COVID medications, such as molnupiravir, which is also taken orally, and remdesivir, which is given intravenously.
- People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may also be prescribed a medication called pemivibart, brand name Pemgarda. Given intravenously in a medical facility over an hour, the medication helps prevent COVID-19 before a person is exposed to the virus, but it is not a substitute for vaccines.
- Wearing a mask, especially on a crowded flight or in other indoor settings, can help reduce the risk of infection.
- The CDC recommends that people stay away from others for at least 24 hours after their symptoms improve and they are fever-free (and not taking fever-reducing medications). The agency suggests taking extra precautions for five days — like wearing a well-fitting mask and continuing to get tested for COVID, in case the virus rebounds — to avoid getting other people sick.
- In addition to the CDC’s recommendations, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also recommends getting tested with a rapid test and getting a negative result before leaving isolation. The agency recommends wearing a mask for 10 days around others after you start feeling sick or, if you’re asymptomatic, after your first positive COVID test. You can unmask sooner if you have two consecutive negative COVID tests, taken at least one day apart. The agency also suggests staying away from older and immunocompromised people for 10 days after you start feeling sick.
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In general, tips like these also reduce the risk of coronavirus infection: keeping your distance from other people, increasing air circulation by opening windows, turning on air purifiers, gathering outdoors if you meet people, and practicing enhanced hygiene: washing and disinfecting your hands often, cleaning frequently touched surfaces, and covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing.
Additional Travel Tips from the CDC
- Make sure you are up to date on all your routine vaccines; they protect against infectious diseases, such as measles, that can spread quickly in groups of unvaccinated people. Many diseases prevented by routine vaccines are not common in the United States but are still common in other countries.
- Get up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines and get your seasonal flu shot. In the United States, the CDC recommends getting vaccinated against COVID and flu in September or October.
- Pack a travel toiletry bag with items you may need, especially those that may be hard to find at your destination. Include prescription and over-the-counter medications and bring enough to last the entire duration of your trip, plus extra in case of travel delays. Depending on your destination, you may also want to pack a mask, insect repellent, sunscreen (SPF 15 or higher), aloe vera, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, water disinfection tablets, and your health insurance card.
Mehta reported from Chicago and Lin from San Francisco.
