The coronavirus pandemic shows little sign of slowing down in California, where new cases, total hospitalizations and deaths remain on the rise as intensive care units are filling in some parts of the state.
The state health department reported a record 149 COVID-19 fatalities Thursday, bringing California’s death toll amid the pandemic above 6,700.
The state surpassed 6,000 concurrent hospitalized cases Wednesday, climbing again to 6,126 as of a Thursday morning update from the state health department. Of those, 1,752 are in the ICU. Both figures are at all-time high levels, having climbed steadily for about the past three weeks.
To date, more than 296,000 across California have tested positive for the respiratory disease known as COVID-19, and at least 6,711 have died. State data show a record 11,694 new infections poured in Wednesday, but the California Department of Public Health notes that the day’s update included a backlog of lab results from Los Angeles County.
Four of California’s 58 counties are currently using surge beds to treat COVID-19 patients: San Mateo, where 24 are hospitalized at a surge hospital that has 96 more beds available; Orange, where 18 are being cared for at an alternative care facility that can handle 42 patients; Imperial, where 12 patients are at a federal medical station that is ready for 68 total patients; and Tulare, where nine patients are at a care facility that has 41 beds ready.
The Sacramento area remains hard-hit according to nearly all available COVID-19 metrics.
Sacramento and Yolo counties’ health departments have reported a combined 11 fatalities since Monday — in Sacramento, five on Monday and two more each of Tuesday and Wednesday; and in Yolo, two on Wednesday.
Sacramento County had 152 confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals with 43 of them in the ICU, according to state data last updated Thursday morning. Both figures have soared since mid-June and hit all-time highs earlier in the week, of 157 hospitalized as of Tuesday’s update and 46 reported in the ICU Wednesday. Each total had been as low as single-digits in late May. The county’s ICUs had less than 18 percent capacity available, the state health department said Wednesday.
Yolo County reached 11 hospitalized and six in the ICU as of Thursday’s state data update, both records. The ICU total doubled from the previous day.
Yolo on Wednesday was added to the state’s watch list for counties with elevated COVID-19 activity, due in part to a flood of new cases over the past two weeks. State data now show Yolo with four available ICU beds after showing a capacity of 0 percent the previous day, when three patients were reportedly in intensive care for COVID-19.
County spokeswoman Jenny Tan said Wednesday that the county had unoccupied ICU beds in its hospitals, but they were not considered available because they weren’t staffed. The hospitals as of Wednesday afternoon had assigned staff who are available to handle COVID-19 ICU patients when needed, she said.
“Residents should not be afraid to go to the hospital if they are in need,” Yolo County wrote in an infographic posted to social media Thursday morning.
Other counties neighboring Sacramento, including Placer, Sutter and Yuba, are bracing for the likelihood of ending up on the state’s watch list in a matter of days, which would mean being forced to close a number of indoor businesses.
Thursday marks 16 weeks since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his stay-at-home order, which restricted the state’s 40 million residents to their homes except for essential purposes. From mid-May to mid-June, the Newsom administration allowed several business sectors to reopen, in phases and with modifications including social distancing and mask requirements, and allowed counties to implement their own “self-attested” reopening plans. This allowed counties with minimal COVID-19 activity to accelerate ahead of the rest of the state in economic reopening.
But faced with the recent ongoing surge in new infections and hospitalization rates — including among early reopeners — Newsom on July 1 ordered all counties that had been on the state health department’s watch list for at least three days to immediately close all bars, and to suspend indoor operations at a number of business types including dine-in restaurants, for at least three weeks.
At the time, the list encompassed 19 counties, including Sacramento and Los Angeles, that account for roughly 70 percent of the state’s population. There are now 26 counties on the state watch list, with all but four of them — Colusa, Napa, San Benito and Yolo — on that list more than three days as of Thursday, thus subject to business closures. Yolo County has already voluntarily closed some businesses.
Testing shortage further threatens California COVID-19 response
California has performed more than 5 million total diagnostic tests for COVID-19, but the rate is expected to slow considerably as a nationwide supply chain issue deals a major setback. Sacramento County has already felt the impact of that shortage, being forced to close five free test sites in under-served communities earlier this week after partner UC Davis Medical Center said it didn’t have the materials available to process the tests. The county has since announced that four of the five will reopen next week.
The state had routinely been testing more than 100,000 people a day for the virus, reporting an average of almost exactly that many daily tests over the 14 days leading up to Wednesday. But the state performed only 82,000 tests Wednesday.
Even as capacity increased, the percentage of tests returning positive continued to grow amid the recent surge: the state’s rolling, 14-day average has ascended to 7.3 percent, a sharp climb after staying below the World Health Organization’s recommended 5 percent from May 16 until June 23. This metric indicates that the virus has been spreading at a faster pace, even when accounting for the growing rate of testing.
Newsom, in a Wednesday news conference, said that either Friday or next Monday he will provide an update on the state’s issues and plans regarding testing. He suggested that with limited supply, the state will have to focus and target testing on more vulnerable populations throughout California.
Sacramento-area numbers: 7,400 infected, 124 dead in 6-county region
The six-county region of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba has reported a combined total of more than 7,400 infections. Nine new deaths disclosed by Sacramento County health officials Monday through Wednesday, four reported deaths out of Yolo since last Friday, one reported Tuesday in Sutter and one more Wednesday in Yuba have increased the greater Sacramento area’s combined death toll to 124.
Sacramento County reports 4,932 confirmed coronavirus infections since the pandemic started, of which 78 people have died, according to the county’s data dashboard. Two new deaths and 210 additional cases were reported in a Wednesday morning update. Another 156 infections but no deaths were reported Thursday.
Sacramento estimates more than 2,500 COVID-19 cases countywide can be considered active, because not enough time has passed for them to be considered “likely recovered,” according to the dashboard.
The city of Sacramento, which accounts for about one-third of the county’s roughly 1.5 million residents, has now surpassed 3,000 cases.
Placer County public health officials reported 23 new cases Thursday morning for an all-time total of 993. Placer officials say 29 patients are now hospitalized and three of them are in the ICU — two more hospitalizations but three fewer ICU cases than the day before. Eleven people have died of COVID-19 in Placer County. Roughly 320 cases can be considered active.
Yolo County reported 37 new cases Wednesday, a record for single-day confirmations, with 24 coming out of Woodland. The total is five more than the daily numbers county officials reported Saturday and Sunday. Yolo now has confirmed 760 infections from the coronavirus. Also Wednesday, two deaths were reported, increasing the countywide count to 28.
None of the four recent deaths in Yolo dating back to last Friday have been connected with senior living facilities. The county reports it has detected the coronavirus in five of its skilled nursing or assisted living facilities, three of them in Woodland. Yolo’s worst outbreak by far, and the only one with fatalities, came at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland, where 17 people died, including at least one staff member.
El Dorado County on Wednesday evening reported 16 new COVID-19 cases after adding four on Tuesday and 36 on Monday that accumulated over the weekend. The county, which now has a total of 280 cases, has fared best in the Sacramento area for coronavirus activity. The county still is reporting no confirmed COVID-19 deaths, but has seen case totals climb faster in the past several days. Half of the county’s cases have been reported in the Lake Tahoe region. State data shows El Dorado with three hospitalized patients, all in the ICU.
North of the four-county capital region, Sutter County disclosed 21 new cases Wednesday after reporting a record-setting 27 infections and one death Tuesday, bringing the all-time totals to 323 cases and four fatalities. Eleven people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Sutter.
Yuba County reported seven new COVID-19 cases Wednesday along with one fatality, its third of the pandemic, and now has recorded a total of 154 cases. The county reported its second death of the pandemic on Saturday; the other came in early April. Eight were hospitalized in Yuba as of the latest update from the Yuba-Sutter bicounty health office, up one from seven hospitalized Tuesday.
State assemblyman hospitalized with COVID-19
Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, tested positive for COVID-19 and has been hospitalized since Sunday, his chief of staff George Andrews announced Wednesday evening.
“He is receiving excellent treatment at Palmdale Regional Medical Center and anticipates a full recovery,” Andrews wrote in a statement.
Lackey is the second California lawmaker confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, D-Inglewood, tested positive Saturday after presumed exposure June 26 — the day the Assembly met in person to vote on the budget, and the same day that an Assembly employee was last in the Capitol before testing positive, according to the Assembly Rules Committee.
Following Burke’s positive test, both the Senate and Assembly have delayed lawmakers’ return to chambers, which had been scheduled for July 13. The return is now set for July 27.
Sacramento City Unified School District releases draft of reopening plan
A draft document for Sacramento City Unified School District’s reopening protocols laid out precautions students and staff must take amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The guidelines call for daily student monitoring for symptoms and temperature screenings on campus. The district also included plans for how to physically distance students, provide safe transportation for students who take the bus, improve ventilation and isolate ill children on campus.
Children will still have recess, according to the safety plan. Schools may stagger the playground schedule just as classrooms are being staggered. Hallways will have traffic flow arrow signs to help guide students and help them maintain distance from one another. The district is canceling larger gatherings such as field trips and assemblies.
The plan doesn’t include school schedules, which are expected to be released later in July as local districts prep to reopen campuses in the fall.
About 500 Sacramento city teachers and SEIU union leaders met virtually Wednesday in a town hall meeting to discuss the safe reopening of schools. More than 95 percent of those attending said the district should immediately survey and seek input from parents regarding their distance learning preferences.
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World numbers: 550,000 dead, including 132,000 in U.S.
More than 12.1 million have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide and over 550,000 have died as of Thursday morning, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
About one-quarter of each — more than 3 million infections and about 133,000 deaths — have come in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.
After the U.S., the coronavirus has hit hardest in Brazil, where 1.7 million have tested positive and nearly 68,000 have died. Next by death toll are the United Kingdom at over 44,000, Italy at nearly 35,000, Mexico at over 32,000, France at just under 30,000, Spain at more than 28,000 and India at over 21,000 dead, according to Johns Hopkins.
What is COVID-19? How is the coronavirus spread?
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
Sacramento Bee reporters Rosalio Ahumada, Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Mackenzie Hawkins and Sawsan Morrar contributed to this report. Listen to our daily briefing:
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