California’s average daily number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days eclipsed three for the first time in nearly two months Thursday, an uptick driven mostly by cases among unvaccinated people according to state testing data.
The state’s case rate now sits at 3.1 cases per 100,000, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The case rate had been steadily declining between mid-January and the end of May, falling as low as two cases per 100,000 on May 30. It hasn’t been three or higher since May 16.
That figure obscures a disparity, however, as the case rate for the state’s fully vaccinated population is just 0.6 per 100,000 while the case rate for unvaccinated residents is 4.9 per 100,000 as of Thursday.
That trend has been observed at the local level as well, as the handful of breakthrough cases among vaccinated residents is far outpaced by the unvaccinated.
In Contra Costa County, the rate per 100,000 for vaccinated residents is just 0.8 but sits at 7.1 for unvaccinated residents.
“The most important thing we can do to stop the spread of COVID-19 is ensure everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated,” CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon said in a statement last week.
COVID-19 vaccines are available to all state residents age 12 and up.