San Francisco health chief says Delta surge easing, readies for boosters and pediatric shots

Director of Health Grant Colfax told the San Francisco Health Commission on Sept. 7 that San Francisco’s fourth COVID-19 surge is receding and that the department is preparing for possible booster recommendations and pediatric authorizations while focusing on equity and maintaining hospital capacity.

Colfax said the city’s case rate has fallen to about 14.4 cases per 100,000 residents and that the estimated reproductive number has dropped to roughly 0.77. He noted the city has reported more than 40,000 cases since the start of the pandemic and “almost 600 San Franciscans have died of COVID-19,” and he emphasized that hospitalizations — which peaked near 123–124 patients in the last surge — had declined to about 92 at the time of the update.

The director highlighted testing and vaccination trends: testing averaged nearly 6,500 per day in July and positivity on the city slide declined from a 6.2% peak to about 2.2%.…