Placer County rebounds from the COVID winter surge. What’s behind the drop in infections

After more than three months in the state’s most restrictive tier, Placer County returned to pre-surge levels Tuesday.

The county, home to more than 400,000 residents, had a testing positivity rate of 2.9% Tuesday, the lowest it’s been since October. It’s case rate dropped to 6 cases per 100,000 people, a significant drop from December when the county experienced an all-time high of 60.7 cases per 100,000, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Hospitalization numbers have also improved, with 38 people currently hospitalized with the virus, down from 208 at the end of December. Twelve of the 38 current cases are in the ICU, leaving 19 available critical care beds countywide.

“The hope is the worst is behind us,” said Dr. Rob Oldham, director of the health and human services and interim health director for the county. “With the vaccine, it’s reasonable to have hope we won’t see another surge.”

“But we’ve been here before,” he added. “We can’t let our guard down.”

If the trend holds for one more week, the county is likely to be downgraded to the state of California’s less restrictive red tier of coronavirus risk, allowing some businesses to reopen and restaurants to allow indoor dining.

The county experienced a similar lull in cases last September when test positivity rates dropped to as low as 1.7%, prompting the Placer County Board of Supervisors to suspend its local health emergency. But a little over a month later, rates of infection jumped, sending Placer County into the most restrictive purple tier for more than three months.

December was the deadliest month of the pandemic, claiming 72 lives. So far, Placer has had 232 deaths attributed to the virus.

“COVID-19 is persistent and will likely continue for the rest of the year into next year,” Oldham said.

Oldham said the county’s robust and widely vaccinated health care workforce has been instrumental in improving the county’s metrics.

“The vaccine has helped morale as well,” he said.

Placer County has administered 116,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to date, passing the notable 100,000 milestone last week. Oldham said the county’s health care system partners such as Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway Pharmacies and others have been instrumental, administering about 70% of all the county’s vaccine.

The county’s vaccine clinic in Roseville has administered more than 30,000 doses, and this week began vaccinating the county’s food and agricultural workers.

“We’ve all been working together on this,” Oldham said. “There’s been times when one partner got shorted on vaccine one week, and we’ve been able to share vaccine back and forth to minimize cancellations and keep the momentum going.”

Placer County has the highest vaccination rate per capita in the region, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. As of last week, Placer administered 25,732 doses per 100,000 residents, surpassing the rates for Sacramento County, which stands at 17,294 doses per 100,000.

“It does look like that so far for Placer that we’re getting lots of accolades for the efficient distribution of vaccine,” Oldham said. “I think we still recognize that there’s a lot people that haven’t been vaccinated that probably need to be.”