Back to the Future (with COVID)

UCLA follows LA County regulations about COVID and it appears that the County is about to impose tighter mask regulations due to rising rates of infection. There is also concern that since many folks now test at home, the official count of infections is well below the actual number. But it is clear that - despite vaccines - the rate of hospitalization (an accurate number) is rising. (See the chart below.) If trends persist, the LA County situation may have an impact on UCLA's COVID rules pertaining to the fall quarter. 

Casual observation suggests that the general population is not being cautious. Yours truly had to go to a local DMV office last Friday. Maybe 10% of the clients were masked in an indoor and not particularly well ventilated facility. Some of the clerks had masks while others did not. So cases, counted or not, are likely to keep rising, along with hospitalizations. Lots of vacation travel is bringing in variants from hither and yon. We should hear more about these trends at the upcoming Regents meeting this week, particularly in the Health Services Committee.

Another straw in the wind:

The American Sociological Association (ASA) is due to have its first in-person professional meeting in LA since the pandemic and it appears that there may be a lot of cancellations due to COVID concerns. Certain conference rules are being changed to allow session chairs to fill out panels in case of absences. See:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/15/sociology-meeting-loses-some-attendees-due-los-angeles-location.

Chart source: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/#graph-hospitalized.