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More infectious coronavirus variants may be fueling new spike in cases, Bay Area health director warns

A farmworker checks in before receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a County of Santa Clara mobile vaccination clinic on March 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A Bay Area health director warned Thursday that more infectious variants of the coronavirus may be fueling a new spike in cases as numbers throughout the region flatten and even start to tick up.

“We’re back in a bit of a precarious place as far as our collective ability to curb this pandemic,” Dr. Sara Cody, public health director for Santa Clara County, said at a news conference.

She urged residents not to travel, and if they had no choice, to quarantine for 10 days when they return. She also said people should wear masks when they are with others outside their household, even if vaccinated. Available vaccines are highly effective but do not provide 100% protection.

“It is spring,” she said. “It is a beautiful day. We all have cabin fever. We all want to get out, we all want to get back to our lives. But we can’t do that quite yet.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.