FILE: A positive COVID-19 rapid test.

From an infectious disease expert’s perspective, California has had anything but an ideal summer. Unrelenting COVID-19 levels have pummeled the region over the past several months, and wastewater data suggests that the virus still has a stranglehold on the Golden State.

Earlier this summer, experts warned that this year’s surge was particularly unusual for a number of reasons. For one, in previous years, cases peaked around July and August or even September before quickly nose-diving. In 2024, however, wastewater concentrations started to rise in late April as opposed to late June and don’t show any signs of breaking just yet.

Multiple Bay Area regions — including San........

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