Coronavirus updates: Sacramento County infections up by 37 as cases surge across US
Amid a nationwide spike in coronavirus cases, Sacramento County added 37 confirmed infections Sunday morning.
Sacramento County health officials raised the tally to 1,753 on Sunday, up from 1,716 cases Saturday. Since Thursday, 83 new cases have been added. Infection rates were relatively low for most of April and May, but by early June, infections were reaching rates that were closer to those of early March, when the pandemic was ramping up across the globe. Sacramento County hasn’t seen a daily increase of 37 new infections since April 13. The daily record high came April 1, with 51 cases. There have been 63 deaths in the county from COVID-19, with the latest being reported on Thursday.
Yolo County saw a spike on Thursday, adding 15 new cases. It was the highest daily increase in the county since April 11. A total of 253 people, with one reported Sunday, have tested positive for coronavirus and 24 people have died. At least 17 of these deaths have been connected to an outbreak at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland.
Placer County’s increase in coronavirus cases is surpassing the rates seen earlier in the pandemic. Health officials recorded the highest daily increase on June 4, when 19 new cases were added. Another 17 cases were added Friday, 14 were added Saturday and 14 more were added Sunday. So far, 372 people have been infected and nine have died, although seven patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 currently and two are being treated in an intensive care unit.
El Dorado County has maintained consistently low infection rates and is one of the few counties in California which have no reported COVID-19 deaths. There, just 113 people have been infected, 54 of whom hail from the Lake Tahoe region. No coronavirus patients in the county are currently being hospitalized and 91 have made recoveries.
Sutter County, which has also seen relatively low numbers, reported a spike of more than 10 percent on Friday. Health officials confirmed nine new cases, bringing the county total to 78. Just two people have died there. In Yuba County, one new case was added Friday, bringing totals to 35 infections and one death.
Fauci: ‘Real normality’ a year away
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the coronavirus may return in waves for quite some time, despite the recent reopening of the economy.
“I would hope to get to some degree of real normality within a year or so,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s this winter or fall, we’ll be seeing it for a bit more.”
His comments came as 21 states in America have experienced increases in daily infections amid widespread loosening of economic restrictions.
“We were successful in suppressing the virus in cities where there were major outbreaks — New York, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans,” Fauci said. “But we’re seeing several states, as they try to reopen and get back to normal, starting to see early indications (that) infections are higher than previously.”
Worldwide, more than 7.8 million people have been infected with coronavirus as of Sunday afternoon, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Over 432,000 people have died of COVID-19 and 3.75 million patients have recovered after infection.
The United States accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s coronavirus cases, with just over 2 million positive test results. More than 115,000 Americans have died.
Brazil has seen a significant surge in cases in the last several weeks. More than 867,000 people have been infected and 43,000 have died.
Russia trails the South American nation, but numbers have been rising there as well. More than 528,000 Russians have been infected with coronavirus, although only about 7,000 deaths have been officially reported.
New York state has seen more infections than many major countries, with more than 383,000 cases and 30,000 deaths.
In California, 151,000 people have been infected and nearly 5,100 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins. Los Angeles County is the largest vector of infection in the state, with 73,000 cases of coronavirus and almost 3,000 fatalities.
Placer County supervisor questions masks
Kirk Uhler, who represents Granite Bay and portions of Roseville, compared coronavirus face masks to AIDS awareness ribbons popularized at the height of the epidemic as a symbol of support for survivors in a video uploaded to Facebook Wednesday.
He lambasted cloth facial coverings as merely a way to signal the virtue of the wearer during the pandemic — breaking with the messaging of his own county’s health department.
The department specifically recommends that cloth coverings be used when out in public.
“Cloth face coverings — such as a bandanna, scarf or homemade cloth cover — are recommended when leaving the house for essential activities to further slow the spread of COVID-19,” the department wrote in its official COVID-19 FAQ. “Face coverings can help prevent transmission of COVID-19 by catching respiratory droplets that can be expelled not just in coughs or sneezes but also through activities like talking or singing.”
Uhler has a history of speaking out about pandemic and its effects on life in the mostly conservative, suburban Sacramento area he represents. He threatened legal action against California Gov. Gavin Newsom last month over economic restrictions imposed on Placer County.
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 June 14, 2020 at 2:37 PM.