(KGTV) — Positive cases of COVID-19 continue to increase across California.
The number of Californians in the hospital with COVID-19 is now the highest in months, and some people are testing positive for the virus post-vaccination.
"It's been a slow recovery back, like much slower than I really wanted," said Julie Newman.
During the first week of July, Julie tested positive for COVID-19.
"We know you don't want to hear this but you're positive," she said, describing the test result information.
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The news came as a shock because Julie says she got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine back in April.
"I knew it was the right thing to do, and I believe in the herd immunity, so I wanted to be part of the herd immunity, but I didn't really think that I was ever going to get COVID, she said."
Julie says her symptoms were mild from what she'd seen on television but still enough to knock her out.
"I went from the bed to the couch, period end of story."
With that positive test, Julie joined a pretty small club
According to the California Department of Public Health, between January 01, 2021, and July 14, 2021, in California, out of over 20.7 million fully vaccinated individuals, 14,365 post-vaccination cases (0.069%) have been identified.
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The state says at least 843 people identified as post-vaccination COVID-19 cases were hospitalized. However, it is important to note that approximately 30% of cases have missing hospitalization data.
"When the doctor told me about the percentage of people that get it after the vaccine, I felt special," she said. "I went out and bought a lottery ticket because I figured if I'm that lucky."
While she doesn't know what version of the virus she got, CDPH data shows the delta variant makes up most sequenced cases in the state.
And the number of cases in California is rising. The California Department of Public Health says there were 5,285 newly reported confirmed cases Tuesday.
Officials say, "cases are increasing statewide, largely among unvaccinated populations. For the week of July 7-14, the average case rate among unvaccinated Californians is 13 per 100,000, and the average case rate among vaccinated Californians is significantly smaller at 2 per 100,000. Between January 1 and July 14, 99% of the state's cumulative cases have occurred among unvaccinated individuals."
Also, up are the number of hospitalizations across the state. As of Thursday morning, the state reported 2,749 COVID-19 hospitalized patients. That's 67 more patients hospitalized from the prior day total and more than double at this point in June.
However, both statics are still significantly lower than the state's COVID-19 crisis in January. Governor Gavin Newsom says the answer is getting the vaccine.
"We are not looking to do any physical distancing any social distancing we're not looking to close anything down were fully committed to getting our kids back in school in person," Newsom said at a press conference earlier this week.
Julie credits the vaccine and her training for helping her bounce back.
"It's only because I was so hearty and so healthy and I'm full of grit that I really got a mild case, ya know, and I was probably lucky, right."
If she had to do everything over, including getting a vaccine, she wouldn't do anything different.
"I still would have gone to the events that were high exposure. I still would have done it. We gotta start living."
