If you’re something like me, Covid-19 hasn’t been in your thoughts a lot these days.

It’s been a number of months since I final wrote about it on this publication, and virtually as lengthy since I gave it severe consideration. And that’s for good purpose.

While Covid has by no means stopped infecting individuals in California, by now most of us have a number of layers of immunity towards the virus by means of vaccines, previous infections or each, so the danger of great sickness is just not as excessive because it as soon as was. The price of unfold has been comparatively low this yr, and Covid hospitalizations in California had been decrease final month than at any time for the reason that pandemic took maintain.

There are some indicators, nevertheless, that this rosy image could quickly change. New Covid circumstances have been rising this month in California and throughout the nation. While consultants say the pattern isn’t a trigger for alarm, they do agree it’s one thing to observe in case you’re hoping to keep away from an infection.

“We had sort of a nadir this past summer, and it stopped dropping and started to increase a bit,” Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, mentioned final week in a briefing with well being care employees. “I’m sure many of you are anecdotally both hearing about friends and family and colleagues, as well as seeing more or hearing more about some more circulating Covid.”

Since the coronavirus pandemic started, two large Covid surges have occurred every year, one in the summertime and a bigger one within the winter. For the fourth yr in a row, circumstances started to choose up nationally in late July, although they continue to be comparatively low, with hospitalizations growing solely barely and deaths remaining flat.

We’re nonetheless determining whether or not this can be a new regular. As my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli reported, how this rise in circumstances performs out could supply “the first glimpse of the coronavirus as a post-pandemic seasonal threat, a permanent fixture of the infectious disease landscape.”

In California, the variety of individuals hospitalized with Covid has been ticking up for a couple of weeks, and the take a look at positivity price has inched as much as its highest stage since January, according to state data. The quantity of coronavirus current within the state’s wastewater has additionally been growing, in keeping with Pan. (It’s troublesome to check present case numbers with these from earlier within the pandemic as a result of as of late, extra individuals take a look at at dwelling and don’t report their outcomes. There’s additionally much less Covid screening accomplished in hospitals.)

A brand new variant, EG.5, has simply grow to be dominant throughout the nation, together with in California. Experts consider the latest improve in circumstances is linked much less to the emergence of EG.5 than to summer time journey, waning immunity and the truth that persons are usually taking fewer precautions.

Robert Wachter, the chair of the division of medication on the University of California, San Francisco, mentioned he wouldn’t name the present rise in coronavirus circumstances a surge, however extra of an uptick. And, he famous, it started from a really low stage.

As for methods to behave in response to this pattern, that’s a difficult query. Many consultants nonetheless suggest carrying a masks in crowded indoor settings, however they know that not everybody will need to achieve this.

If you’re at excessive danger for severe sickness, you may need to masks up on the grocery retailer and keep away from consuming indoors at eating places. Other individuals may simply need to put on a masks on the airport, to keep away from getting sick throughout that large summer time trip.

Or perhaps the enchantment of not interested by Covid is just too highly effective to make you are taking precautions this time round.

“It definitely is riskier than it was a few months ago,” Wachter told KCRW in Los Angeles. “But it’s not night and day. There’s a little bit more Covid in the air than there was a few weeks ago, and if people are inclined to change their behavior based on that, now is the time to begin thinking about that.”

For extra:

Where we’re touring

Today’s tip comes from Steve Moses, who recommends the Downtown San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market on Thursday evenings: “It has to be the best farmers’ market in the state. Six blocks of food and fun that roll into happy hour. Plus, the best vegetables I have ever seen.”

Tell us about your favourite locations to go to in California. Email your strategies to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the publication.

Tell us

Quite a few Los Angeles landmarks are turning 100 this year, together with the Hollywood signal, the Memorial Coliseum and the Biltmore Hotel downtown.

Do you have got favourite reminiscences of those L.A. establishments? Share them in a couple of sentences with CAtoday@nytimes.com, and please embody your title and town the place you reside.

And earlier than you go, some good news

For the twenty third yr, an occasion billed because the world’s solely newbie browsing competitors for wave riders who’re 40 and older returned to Pacifica State Beach final month.

The competitors, Kahuna Kupuna — which in Hawaiian means roughly “Big Chief, wise elder” — was began by Roy Earnest, a gerontologist who as soon as helped produce a documentary about older surfers, The Mercury News reports.