With new coronavirus cases in Marin beginning to level off after a steep decline, health officials are warning that spring travel could fuel another COVID-19 surge.
“If you have the travel bug, remember that COVID-19 is a travel bug,” said Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer. “Stay local. The last thing we need to do is import variants into our community.”
About 58% of Marin residents over the age of 16 have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. But that still leaves a sizable chunk of the population vulnerable to infection, Willis said.
“We’ve made so much progress in the past two months,” he said. “Vaccination rates are increasing and infection rates are declining. Our goal should be to hold onto those gains and not let down our guard.”
But signs of an increase in travel have already been noted this week. Marin Airporter, which shuttles people between Marin and the San Francisco International Airport, has seen ridership more than double over the past week.
The service has sold about 250 tickets per day over the past week, up from about 100 daily tickets in other recent weeks, said Wilkens Philippe, a supervisor for the business.
Philippe said the uptick in riders is likely due to a combination of spring break travel and the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.
Chaudry Ali, who runs a cab service with North Bay Taxi, noticed a boost in demand for rides around the middle of March.
Customers from Marin have been requesting rides to Bay Area airports more than they have at any point during the pandemic, Ali said. Many of them are flying to warm-weather destinations like Hawaii and Southern California, he said, and many customers have told him they are traveling for the first time in more than a year.
“I think people are feeling comfortable with vaccination,” Ali said.
The unseasonably warm weather this week has also drawn visitors to West Marin.
“It’s very busy due to the weather and also spring break,” said Sergio Vergara, who owns the Stinson Beach Market.
Vergara said the rush began on Monday and it hasn’t slowed down. Many customers are coming to Marin’s coast from elsewhere in the Bay Area, he said.
“There’s a lot of people in town,” he said. “Traffic is bad, parking is bad.”
Marin health officials said a cluster of new coronavirus infections has been linked to travel among youth athletes, underscoring the warning that cases could start to tick up as a result of people moving around. Athletes on club sport teams who have traveled around the state, or in some cases outside of California, for tournaments have become infected with COVID-19 and passed the virus on to family members, according to a recent county announcement.
Health officials are also urging people to refrain from gathering in large groups for Easter on Sunday and to continue following public health protocols, including mask wearing and social distancing.
Restrictions on travel and gatherings might ease up when 80% of Marin residents are vaccinated against COVID-19, health officials said.
