{"id":219,"date":"2026-05-19T04:31:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2026-05-19T04:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:31:58","slug":"no-season-anymore-viruses-are-running-amok-in-northern-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=219","title":{"rendered":"‘No season anymore’: Viruses are running amok in Northern California"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With summer right around the corner, cold and flu season should be long behind us, but recent wastewater data shows that respiratory illnesses still have an unusually tight hold over Northern California.\u00a0<\/p>

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According to\u00a0WastewaterSCAN, which monitors multiple viruses throughout the country\u2019s municipal wastewater, RSV has a moderate presence in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, the southeastern portion of San Francisco, Napa, Sacramento and Davis; meanwhile, its levels are highest in the western section of San Francisco and parts of Marin, including Corte Madera and\u00a0Novato.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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The most common cause of infant hospitalization, RSV is a respiratory illness that normally starts in the fall and peaks in the winter, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the California Department of Public Health, it\u2019s typically most prevalent from October through March. The virus causes cold-like symptoms, including fever, runny nose and cough, spreading when an infected person sneezes or remains in close contact with other people. Because it\u2019s able to stay on hard surfaces for several hours and spread through the air, the virus is considered highly transmissible. While most people with RSV recover on their own, those at higher risk, including infants, older people and people with underlying health conditions, can end up hospitalized with severe symptoms.<\/p><\/div>

But the presence of RSV might not be a surprise to health experts who believe the state of California is paying a post-covid \u201cimmunity debt.\u201d The concept hypothesizes that because lockdown measures prevented people from getting exposed to common illnesses, these ailments are now returning with a vengeance.<\/p><\/div>

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, previously told SFGATE that because COVID-19 was \u201cquieter\u201d this season, \u201cother viruses like influenza\u201d and human metapneumovirus\u00a0\u2014 another respiratory sickness that causes cold-like symptoms\u00a0\u2014 \u201care getting their chance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

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