Dr. Evan Bradley, an emergency physician at UMass Memorial Healthcare, swabs a woman's nose at a COVID-19 testing and resource fair at Worcester Technical High School Monday on Aug. 10, 2020.
Los Angeles, California – California is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases linked to the emergence of a new subvariant, even as federal vaccine policy undergoes a significant shift. The NB.1.8.1 subvariant, nicknamed “Nimbus,” is rapidly spreading and becoming dominant across the state, with health officials warning of its painful hallmark symptom: an intensely sore throat likened by some patients to swallowing razor blades.
Though this so-called “razor blade throat” is not an entirely new symptom, its prominence in international reports, particularly from China, has renewed concern. “People are focusing on these other aspects of symptoms,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco, noting that severe sore throat has replaced earlier symptoms like loss of taste and smell in many cases. It sounds brutal.
Nimbus now accounts for more than half of COVID cases in California, up from just 2% in April, according to the state Department of Public Health. Nationally, it’s neck-and-neck with another Omicron descendant, LP.8.1, each accounting for nearly 40% of cases. Wastewater data across Southern California reveals mixed signals: Santa Barbara is seeing moderate-to-high viral levels, San Bernardino is reporting high activity, and Los Angeles County has logged a 13% increase in viral concentration over recent weeks.
In Northern California, Santa Clara County reports “high” virus levels in the San José sewer shed, and “medium” levels in Palo Alto. Statewide, the virus remains at a “medium” level in wastewater — a step up from the “low” levels observed in April.
This rise comes as federal policy shifts threaten to undermine public health guidance. The Trump administration, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has recently gutted the CDC’s longstanding COVID vaccine recommendations. Under Kennedy’s rules, authorities are no longer advising pregnant women to receive the vaccine without consulting a doctor, and the CDC has also rolled back broad recommendations for universal vaccination.
Health professionals responded with alarm. “We are absolutely in uncharted territory here,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Stanford, and one of the experts abruptly dismissed from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Doctor Chin-Hong added that this “[is] a dark period for everyone right now.”
California’s top health officials, alongside governors from Oregon and Washington, condemned the changes. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the dismissals “deeply troubling” and warned they threatened both vaccine access and public trust.
Local departments, including L.A. County, are urging residents to continue following existing guidance.
