Coronavirus updates: 19 California counties partially reopen; 3,000 dead in state, 300K globally
Another milestone in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Thursday marks eight weeks since nonessential businesses across California were shuttered under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order.
Throughout most of the week, Newsom’s office has permitted some of the more rural and sparsely populated parts of California to move further along in Phase 2 of his reopening plan. The list of counties in which dine-in restaurants, destination retail and some schools are clear to reopen — all with special guidelines to maintain social distancing protocols — started with seven counties over the course of Tuesday and swelled to 19 as of Thursday afternoon. Mariposa and Humboldt counties are the two latest additions.
Retail businesses in all California counties are allowed, as of last Friday, to reopen for curbside pickup service only. Newsom also said this week office workers who cannot perform their roles via telecommuting can return to office spaces.
The coronavirus pandemic has for months waged a two-front assault on normal life in California and across the United States, simultaneously presenting health and economic crises.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the highly contagious virus, has killed more than 85,000 people in the U.S. as the global death toll surpassed 300,000, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University. California has surpassed 3,000 coronavirus fatalities, according to a Sacramento Bee survey of counties’ health departments.
And because of sweeping and unprecedented closures being mandated across a broad range of economic sectors, the nation has been plunged into a recession.
The U.S. Department of Labor in its weekly unemployment report Thursday morning said another 2.98 million Americans filed initial claims last week — about 200,000 fewer than the week before, but enough to push the running total to 36 million jobless claims in eight weeks.
More than 214,000 claims were filed in California for the week ending May 9, a significant decrease from the 316,000 filed a week earlier. Still, and despite its status as the most populous state, California was fourth in new claims behind Connecticut (299,000), Georgia (241,000) and Florida (222,000). The total figure of 2.98 million claims nationwide is seasonally adjusted, according to the Department of Labor; states’ total claims are not.
Newsom earlier this week said California’s true jobless rate, accounting for lag times in reporting and processing, is or will soon be above 20 percent.
How do Sacramento, Yolo counties fare in reopening process?
Last week, as Newsom and state health officials were first describing plans to allow “regional variance” for individual counties looking to accelerate further along in Phase 2 of business reopenings, Sacramento County leaders expressed optimism.
But the state-released standards present a tough test that neither Sacramento nor neighboring Yolo County will be able to pass for almost two weeks, unless exceptions are made.
The state Department of Public Health is only allowing counties to open that have had no COVID-19 deaths in the last 14 days. Sacramento County last reported a fatality Wednesday and stands at 51 total deaths over the course of the pandemic. Yolo County reported two deaths earlier this week.
Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said Sacramento representatives have been on the phone this week with state health officials making a case that the county warrants an allowance to reopen despite the deaths.
Beilenson said he is arguing that a county of 1.6 million residents, with numerous assisted care living facilities and hospitals, should not be held to the same zero-death standard as counties with one-tenth the population and fewer facilities.
He said Sacramento likely will submit its formal “attestation” document to the state early next week, which will show improvement in hospitalization rate and virus testing capacity.
Once Sacramento County does get the state’s blessing to join much of rural Northern California in reopening in-store retail and restaurants’ dining rooms, things will look very different from how they did pre-pandemic.
The state health department on Tuesday released a 12-page, 99-item bulleted list of guidelines and mandates for restaurants to maintain social distancing as they allow customers to dine in.
In response, the city of Sacramento on Wednesday announced a program called “Farm-To-Fork Al Fresco.” Once they’re allowed to reopen, the plan is to help restaurants maintain social distancing by letting them expand outdoor seating significantly — putting tables on sidewalks, in parking lots or even in some streets.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and City Councilman Steve Hansen, who represents midtown and downtown, expressed optimism at the idea. But there’s some concern, considering the plan will coincide with Sacramento’s unforgiving summer heat. Triple-digit temperatures are likely only a few weeks away.
Yolo County now allows car washes, other limited services
On Thursday afternoon, officials announced that Yolo County has amended its shelter-in-place order to allow some businesses to reopen, such as car washes, pet grooming and landscaping, with guidelines to prevent the coronavirus spread.
The amended local order, which remains in effect through May 31, allows for these businesses to operate as long as they follow state health guidelines, comply with the county’s mandatory facial-covering order and practice strict social distancing, according to a news release.
The county also allows childcare to resume for non-essential workers and for outdoor museums and open gallery spaces to reopen. Other businesses allowed to reopen under the amended order are appliance repair, residential and janitorial cleaning and plumbing, according to the release.
Officials said the local order was amended to align Yolo County with recent modifications to California’s stay-at-home order, which allows these activities to resume.
Nonessential office-based businesses must remain closed in the county. The state’s coronavirus order allows office-based business to reopen, while strongly encouraging working from home. But Yolo County officials want to delay reopening non-essential offices until next week, when they can develop local guidance for these businesses.
Yolo County has developed a readiness plan to submit to state officials for final approval later this week, according to the release. This plan, like other local governments have submitted throughout the state, allows counties to move further into Phase 2 of the state’s plan to reopen additional services or businesses.
84 dead across four-county Sacramento region
At least 84 people have died from COVID-19 the four-county Sacramento region among more than 1,600 confirmed cases, according to the counties’ public health departments. Another 58 infections and three deaths have come in nearby Yuba and Sutter counties.
Sacramento County public health officials have recorded 1,194 cases of the coronavirus and 54 deaths, last updated Thursday morning. Three additional fatalities were reported, all in Citrus Heights. The infection total grew 11 after increasing by just two cases in the previous day’s update.
Yolo County reported three new confirmed cases Thursday afternoon, one in West Sacramento and two in Woodland. On Wednesday, the county reported two new COVID-19 cases. The county has a total of 182 cases and 22 deaths from the respiratory disease. Fifteen of those deaths — including at least one staff member — have come at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, located within the St. John’s Retirement Village campus in Woodland, according to the county website. The facility has reported 33 residents and 34 employees infected with the virus.
Placer County has reported 172 lab-confirmed cases and eight fatalities from the coronavirus, last updated Thursday morning. Two additional cases were disclosed in the day’s update.
El Dorado County reported two new confirmed cases Thursday afternoon, a man and a woman from the Diamond Springs/El Dorado area. The County has a total of 62 people infected with the virus, with four new cases reported Wednesday afternoon. No deaths from the virus have been reported in the county. Most of the infections are in the Lake Tahoe and El Dorado Hills areas, at about 20 apiece.
Sutter County reported one new confirmed COVID-19 case Thursday afternoon, reaching a total of 37 cases. The county had one new case reported Tuesday and another reported Wednesday. The county has two deaths due to COVID-19. The most recent death in Sutter was reported April 4.
Yuba County reported no new cases Thursday, but the county had two new cases Wednesday and two new cases Tuesday. The county has a total of 25 cases. One person in Yuba has died due to COVID-19, which the county reported April 9.
California’s state workers face pay cuts, possible furloughs
Newsom plans to reduce state worker pay by 10 percent as part of a cost-saving plan for state government, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker announced in a video on the union’s Facebook page Wednesday night.
She told members that without bargaining, the reduction would mean two furlough days per month. Walker said she had received a call from the Governor’s Office earlier in the day.
Newsom’s office has projected a deficit of $54 billion, and the governor is expected to release his proposal to close that gap at a press conference Thursday.
Local 1000 represents about 100,000 state workers. The union negotiated a new contract with Newsom’s administration last year that included a 7 percent raise over three years, along with a new health insurance stipend worth about $3,100 per year. The raises were set to kick in July 1.
Working remotely becomes permanent for some
Cubicles have given way to bedroom and home offices, and conference room meetings have turned into Zoom video chats.
The shift to remote work for major businesses has been created out of necessity due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it’ll be permanent for some — and maybe more than just some.
Twitter announced this week that employees could work from home essentially as long as they want. Nationwide Insurance said it would permanently transition 4,000 employees to a work-from-home model, including 200 in Sacramento.
About two-thirds of employed Americans say they have worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic, double what was reported in mid-March, according to a recent Gallup panel survey.
Researchers are increasingly saying that the surge will have a lasting effect.
“We’ve been pushing the remote-work rock uphill about 15 years and now it feels like it’s chasing us down the other side,” said Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics which recently published an analysis of work-from-home preferences based on a survey of 3,000 employees globally.
The number of employees who said they worked at home at least one day a week rose from 30 percent before COVID-19 to 80 percent doing so now, and about 77 percent want to keep doing so into the future, she said.
Employees are often more productive, working over a longer number of hours in the home setting, Lister said. One of the clearest benefits is the elimination of commute times. And for some, Lister said, working from home is less distracting.
World numbers: Global death toll surpasses 300,000
More than 4.4 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and the death toll had surpassed 302,000 as of Thursday afternoon Pacific time, according to a data map by Johns Hopkins University.
Over 1.4 million confirmed cases and more than 85,000 reported fatalities have come in the U.S., within which over 27,000 have died in New York state, almost 10,000 in New Jersey and nearly 5,500 in Massachusetts. Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan range from 3,000 to 5,000 dead from the coronavirus. California is over 3,000.
Washington state, Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Florida, Maryland and Louisiana all range from roughly 1,000 to 3,000 COVID-19 deaths, per Johns Hopkins.
Following the U.S. on the global death toll rankings are the United Kingdom at about 33,700; Italy at 31,100; Spain and France at just over 27,000 each; and Brazil at 13,300. Ranging from 5,000 to 9,000 dead are Canada, the Netherlands, Iran, Germany and Belgium.
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.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 8:13 AM.
