Good morning. It’s Wednesday, July 17. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

COVID is crashing California’s summer

The summer COVID bump is not stopping, unlike many of our concerns about getting infected from summers past.

I’ll include myself in that group.

During a journalism industry event I attended over the weekend, I shared a banquet room with hundreds of people, plus smaller rooms for panel discussions. I saw only one person wearing a mask and it stood out; there was someone being cautious at a level I no longer am in daily life.

If I hadn’t spotted that mask, I don’t know that COVID would have crossed my mind. I’ve been getting my boosters. I don’t mask up in my day-to-day anymore, but I still have masks on hand for air travel. Like many Californians and Americans, my guard is mostly down.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March found that just 20% of U.S. adults consider the coronavirus a major public health threat. Just 10% said they felt very concerned about getting COVID and having to be hospitalized because of it, while 12% reported feeling very concerned they might unknowingly spread the virus to others.

We’re now in our fifth summer living with COVID, and we’re over it — even as the data show the virus continues to mutate and spread more easily. The subvariants known as FLiRT now dominate the U.S. caseload, as my Times colleague Rong-Gong Lin II reported this week:

“For the two-week period that ended July 6, an estimated 70.5% of COVID specimens nationwide were of the FLiRT subvariants — officially known as KP.3, KP.2 and KP.1.1 — up from 54.9% a month earlier.”

California is one of seven states with “very high” COVID levels in its wastewater, according to the CDC, and estimated to be significantly higher than last summer.

According to state health data, the seven-day positivity rate reached 13% on July 8. Of course, that’s an undercount, since it does not include at-home tests or the people who catch COVID but don’t test at all.

But look around and you’ll probably notice that we’re traveling, gathering and partying like it’s 2019.

“Certainly, people are trying to get back to whatever life was like before the pandemic,” Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told Rong-Gong. “We’re in a different place than we were before. … However, good common sense shouldn’t go out the window.”

The simplest safeguard tries to employ some of that common sense: If you’re sick, stay home and isolate. And get tested to have a better sense of what you’re dealing with.

COVID symptoms vary, but often include fever, aches, sore throat, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headaches. Although vomiting, diarrhea and stomachaches are less common, they can still be the result of a COVID infection.

Health officials advise people to wear masks for five days after their symptoms improve to protect others. To keep the elderly, immunocompromised and other high-risk people safe, L.A. County recommends anyone infected steer clear for 10 days after a positive test or the start of symptoms.

As COVID continues to rise this summer, we want to hear from you, newsletter readers:

How concerned are you about COVID right now? How often is it on your mind in daily life?

How have the precautions you take changed over time — or have they not? Do you think the average person is taking it more or less seriously than you are?

Share your concerns (or lack thereof) by taking this survey and you might see your and fellow readers’ responses in a future edition of Essential California.

More on COVID:

Today’s top stories

Former President Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents on stage at the campaign rally in Butler, Pa., where he was shot.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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California and the 2024 election

Elon Musk v. California

L.A. politics

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Today’s great reads

An artist’s rendering of the proposed $1.5-billion stadium the Oakland Athletics are planning to move into in 2028.

(Negativ via Associated Press)

MLB players with Vegas roots are skeptical of A’s relocation: ‘It’s a terrible idea’ Athletics owner John Fisher says moving to Las Vegas will improve the franchise, but Paul Sewald, Bryce Harper and other players don’t see it that way.

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How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

And finally … a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

The colorful cliff faces at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from staff photographer Christopher Reynolds of the colorful cliff faces at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. It’s on our new list of the 50 best beaches in SoCal.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter

Christian Orozco, assistant editor

Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A summer surge of COVID-19 cases in Southern California comes as many residents become complacent about safe behaviors.

Could this be adding to the spike in infections?

As a caregiver, Tracey Benson of Inglewood is very protective about her mom’s health. All this time she has been able to keep her from getting a COVID infection, but it’s getting harder and harder.

“We are staying on top of it, but I think others should join and do the same and not be so relaxed,” Benson said.

Doctors say this relaxed attitude toward COVID may be fueling the spread of the latest variant called FLiRT.

“It is quite widespread,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Suman Radhakrishna with Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center.

She said the FLiRT variant is 20% more contagious than the original virus, but less likely to cause serious disease, which may be another reason why people are letting their guard down.

“A lot of people are walking around who are asymptomatic. You hug each other, you kiss each other, you’re sharing food,” she said.

According to the CDC, California’s wastewater has reached a “very high” level for COVID for the first time since last winter. L.A. County health officials said other indicators, such as the number of cases and hospitalizations, have doubled in the last month.

Think of the last time you went to a gathering and someone tested positive. Did you test yourself? Did you isolate yourself? Doctors say people are forgetting the important lessons we’ve learned.

“You should say to yourself, if I test positive, I’m going to stop the transmission right here with me. And I’m going to quarantine myself for the five-day prescribed period. Every person has a duty to protect everyone else around them so we should be doing our part,” Radhakrishna said.

Besides those measures, Dr. Radhakrishna says vaccination remains our best weapon and summer may be a good time to boost your immunity.

“If you’re traveling now, you want to be protected now,” she said.

This is especially true for those in vulnerable groups.

“It is still very bad for the immuno-compromised. And for the ones who are suffering in the throes of infection, it is very bad as well,” said Radhakrishna.

For her mom’s sake, Benson is hoping people will continue to cover their cough, social distance, test if they need to and get vaccinated.

“Health is important not just for oneself, but for your other family members. It’s really important,” said Benson.

Image credit:
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announces the Arizona Diamondbacks 1st round pick, 29th overall, Slade Caldwell at the 2024 MLB Draft at Cowtown Coliseum in Ft. Worth, Texas on Sunday, July 14, 2024

As usual, the state of California led the way in having the most 2024 MLB Draft picks. But it is notable how some schools have steadily increased their number of players taken while one state in particular has continued to drop off in draft production.

California had 63 players selected this year, compared to Florida’s 57. North Carolina (46), Texas (40) and Virginia (29) rounded out the top five.

Last year, 67 players from California went in the draft, while 65 came from Texas.

The state that has declined the most precipitously in recent years is Georgia. Georgia saw 19 players picked this year after totaling just 18 in 2023. Throughout the 2010s, Georgia annually had 25 or more players picked in the top 20 rounds and didn’t have a year below 20 picks in any year that decade.

Five states—Vermont, South Dakota, Montana, Rhode Island and Wyoming—went pickless.

This was produced using PramanaLabs’ Shift tool through Baseball America’s partnership with Pramana.