More infectious delta variant is pushing Monterey County Covid cases upward.

The delta variant of Covid-19 now makes up approximately 40-50 percent of cases in the state and its infectious nature is helping push the number of cases higher, including those in Monterey County, according to the county's health officer, Edward Moreno.

The case rate in the county is now 3.1 cases per 100,000, with about 15 new cases reported each day, Moreno told reporters in a media briefing on Wednesday. Previous to the increase, the county was seeing about five new cases a day. 

The test positivity rate is also up to 2.4, which means fo revery 100 people who were vaccinated, two to three people tested positive, Moreno said.

Hospitalizations are also up. As of today, there are 13 people hospitalized, with two in the ICU, according to the California Department of Public Health's hospitalization dashboard. In late June the county was recording only one person hospitalized. That changed July 1 when it jumped to four patients and continued from there.

Moreno did not put the blame solely on delta for the increase in Covid cases. The state's lifting of restrictions on June 15 is also a factor, leading to people interacting more with others outside of their household. The other culprit is about 30 percent of the county's population remains unvaccinated.

All, or nearly all hospitalized Covid cases are among those who are unvaccinated, and those people may be more susceptible to becoming seriously ill and needing hospitalization due to the delta variant, Moreno said. A small number of breakthrough cases have happened, but those vaccinated are less likely to become seriously ill and need hospitalization. The vaccines are providing protection, he said.

So far the county knows of 14 cases where delta was detected. Not every positive Covid test sample undergoes genomic sequencing to determine which variant is behind the infection, only a portion. Moreno said he expects that Monterey County is experiencing the same percentage of delta cases as the state, 40-50 percent.

The increase in cases and hospitalizations led Moreno and his counterparts in three other counties—Santa Cruz, San Benito and Napa—to issue a recommendation on Monday that everyone, even those vaccinated, wear masks indoors in public settings.

For information on getting a Covid-19 vaccine, see the Weekly's vaccine guide.

Covid-19 testing locations can be found on the Monterey County Health Department testing web page.