Sonoma County health officials ask unvaccinated not to gather for July 4

The coronavirus pandemic may not be over, but it is certainly narrowing, as Sonoma County public health officials increasingly restrict their summer holiday warnings to those who have not yet been vaccinated.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, is asking people who have not been vaccinated to refrain from gathering for the upcoming July 4 weekend. It’s a call that was extended to all of Sonoma County’s half-million residents last year, just as the local community began its long slog into a deadly summer surge of COVID-19 infections.

Now, with 66% of the eligible county residents fully vaccinated and another 9% awaiting a second dose, all but the unvaccinated can safely enjoy the summer holidays, Mase said.

“If you’re unvaccinated, it’s just as if it were last summer for you,” said Mase. “Just go and get vaccinated. There’s plenty of opportunities, and you’ll protect yourself and you can go around without a mask and be OK.”

While Sonoma County currently has one of the highest case rates in the state, local transmission of the virus is currently stable and remains at about four new daily cases per 100,000 residents, according to county and state data. That’s about the same rate as last year in late June.

But last year at this time there was no vaccine, and the entire county population was at high risk to contract the virus. Officials said the current rate of four cases per 100,000 is occurring among almost entirely among young people who have not been vaccinated.

Kathryn Pack, health program manager for the county's epidemiology team, said today exposure risk is less confined to particular holidays and weekends such as Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. Gatherings are playing an increasing role in virus transmission among those who are not vaccinated, as people meet with family and friends and travel more frequently, Pack said.

“If you are unvaccinated, avoid gathering and remember to mask and distance if you are around others from outside your immediate household,” Pack wrote in an email.

Local health officials said nearly 90% of new cases in Sonoma County are are among people who are not vaccinated. Officials stressed the importance of receiving both shots of a two-dose vaccine.

Pack said research shows that partial vaccination is only 33% effective in preventing transmission of the delta variant, a new more contagious strain of the virus that is now circulating in Sonoma County. Meanwhile, protection against the delta strain increases to 88% among fully vaccinated individuals, she said.

As of June 21, periodic genetic sequencing has confirmed 19 cases of the strain, technically known as B.1.617.2.

Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, said he didn’t expect much of a bump in cases resulting from the July 4 holilday, particularly given the large number of people vaccinated in Sonoma County.

“You’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “There’s always going to be some transmission, and there will be small clusters among people who are unvaccinated.”

Rutherford said the delta variant has lately been causing small outbreaks in the Bay Area. But he said it remains to be seen whether these outbreaks represent “sustained transmission that’s been strung together or whether they’re just isolated introductions into a susceptible group, which is what I bet they are.”

Mase said those who have not been vaccinated continue to exist in a pandemic environment where infections likely, where holidays and gatherings are a serious public health concern.

“If you’re unvaccinated, it’s just as if it was last summer for you, or last winter.” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.