As COVID wave washes over California, some health officials urge residents to mask up

Los Angeles Times ^ | Sept. 3, 2025 3 AM PT | Rong-Gong Lin II

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A COVID wave is washing over California, with the state seeing continued increases in the number of newly confirmed cases and hospitalizations as some officials urged the public to take greater precautions.

The extent of the recent increases has prompted some county-level health officials to recommend that residents once again consider wearing masks in indoor public settings, at least until transmission has declined.

California currently has “high” coronavirus levels in sewage, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And increases are being seen across the Golden State, from Los Angeles County to the San Francisco Bay Area to areas around the state capital.

The CDC estimates that coronavirus infections are either “growing” or “likely growing” in 30 states, including California. Twenty-one states have either “very high” or “high” viral levels in wastewater. Of all regions of the U.S., the West has the highest levels of coronavirus in wastewater, followed by the South.

“California is experiencing a summer COVID wave,” said Dr. Aimee Sisson, the health officer in Yolo County, just west of Sacramento.

The rate at which coronavirus lab tests are coming back positive also continues to climb. For the week that ended Aug. 23, 12.07% of tests across the state came back positive, up from a rate of 6.03% for the week that ended July 26.

Similar leaps in rates were seen in L.A. County, where the positive test rate was 13.44%, up from 8.11% four weeks earlier; in Orange County, it was 18.1%, up from 9.4%; and in San Francisco, it was 8.7%, up from 7.1%.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, the regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said she received many calls related to outpatient cases of COVID-19 while on call over the Labor Day weekend.

“We are definitely...

[Lizavetta]

The extent of the recent increases has prompted some county-level health officials to recommend that residents once again consider wearing masks in indoor public settings, at least until transmission has declined.

They're pretending they're not, and we are not, aware that masks are useless regarding preventing virus transmission.

[Williams]

in sewage??

[rktman]

I urge officials to “F” off! Proven masks are useless.

[Da Coyote]

California “Lack of IQ” test: “Are you going to wear a mask because we advise it?”
Yes = No measurable intelligence.
No = We no longer believe your lying *ss.

[Mark]

Can we get some shots to stop this? Oh, we must shut down the schools.

[Freedom4US]

Dust masks & surgical masks don’t stop this. Why are they doing this?

Nobody can stop a virus. Not even Government.

[Night Hides Not]

I’d be stocking up on HCQ and ivermectin.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Well a mask will not help, that theory has been debunked long ago. And the spread is in the sewage, i.e. Fecal Contamination just like on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship data of Feb. 2020.

I remember when that theory came out and was called BS by the CDC and NIH, yet was totally correct.

[101viking]

I live here in California. I’m always glad to see these mask up warnings. Helps me to identify those I want to stay away from, and it’s not because of Covid.

[jimtorr]

I don’t even believe the “wave of covid crashing over California”.

[Captain Peter Blood]

At this point Covid-19 has mutated 10’s of thousands of times or more and now nothing more than a common cold type situation, Common cold itself is a coronavirus.

There are literally 10’s of thousands of variants at this point, probably cannot be counted, just like the common cold and flu, which is a coronavirus.

[Captain Peter Blood]

That came out in early 2020 and was not taken seriously.