San Francisco's rules that allow for no masks at gyms, workplaces, and places of worship get to stand, because we've all been so good up until now.

California is reimposing a broad indoor mask mandate this week as the Omicron variant continues spreading, holiday gatherings proliferate, and as COVID cases and hospitalizations tick upward across the state.

The bad news coming out of South Africa Friday is that researchers are now able to say that Omicron appears to be quickly taking over as a dominant strain, and it appears to have an Rt that's 2.5 higher than the Delta variant.

Wouldn't you know it, the first known case of the Omicron variant of COVID to arrive in the U.S., via South Africa, is in San Francisco, and the patient is already reportedly recovering.

There are a lot of open questions about a new, highly mutated COVID variant, B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa that is leading to travel restrictions across the globe. Some experts say there are causes for concern, but it also may not be a huge deal.

San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area have bounced back into the CDC's yellow tier indicating "moderate" COVID transmission, down from the orange tier — and following a number of weeks when San Francisco County has bounced between the two.

While much of the country is bracing for a winter surge in new COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, the Bay Area has seen only the slightest hints of an uptick in new cases, and local hospitals are not yet seeing a rise in severe cases either.

The federal government is planning to spend $5 billion on Pfizer's COVID antiviral treatment pills, and will begin making these available to vulnerable populations as soon as the FDA grants emergency approval of the drug.