Coronavirus updates: Sacramento County cases soar; California hits hospitalization high
The upward trends in new confirmed coronavirus cases and in some cases rising hospitalization rates — within the Sacramento area, across California, and at the nationwide and global levels — continue to prompt concern as health officials reported more record highs over the weekend.
With 4,515 new lab-positive cases of COVID-19 reported, California on Saturday surpassed an official infection toll of 170,000 while also adding 71 to a death toll that stood at just under 5,500 as of that day’s update from the state Department of Public Health. Saturday’s increase in cases had broken a daily record set just two days earlier, when the state’s total increased by 4,317.
Then, in a Monday morning update with numbers accurate through Sunday, California reported more than 4,200 new cases in a day but only 20 new fatalities, which marks the lowest one-day death increase since May 25. It pushed the state’s official death count to 5,515.
Sacramento County public health officials have also reported a huge spike in new cases, adding nearly 270 to the county’s total within three days: a record 93 in Saturday’s update, 91 more Sunday and 83 on Monday.
In terms of “episode date” — that is, the earliest known date on which a confirmed COVID-19 case showed itself via testing or symptoms, rather than the date a case was first publicly reported by the county — Sacramento County saw a staggering 220 new cases of the disease between June 15 and June 18.
That well exceeds the county’s previous four-day high, when 147 new cases emerged from March 30 to April 2, and is almost 10 times higher than the pandemic’s low point since then, when just 23 new cases first showed themselves May 1-4.
As numbers started to surge earlier in June, contact tracers in Sacramento County linked some of the increased activity to a number of indoor gatherings among friends and family members, such as birthday parties, where large groups were getting together without following social distancing protocols or wearing masks, public health officer Dr. Kasirye told The Bee earlier this month. Yolo County, in a news release, gave a similar explanation.
Health officials have also expressed some concern that large gatherings in late May and early June to protest the police killing of George Floyd, which swept through major cities across the U.S. including Sacramento, would also have an adverse effect on coronavirus spread. Given the incubation period for the virus, the protest’s epidemiological impacts should be clearest within a few days from now.
The county now reports 2,243 lab-positive cases, resulting in 66 deaths. No fatalities have been reported since last Wednesday, when county officials reported four new coronavirus deaths.
The county over the weekend dropped the death toll from 67 to 66, after the address of one victim was transferred to a different jurisdiction, Sacramento County spokeswoman Janna Haynes said. That type of data correction has happened a handful of times, she said.
California hospitalizations also hit new high
Hospitalization totals reached record highs across California on both Saturday and Sunday, state data show, with 3,702 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds as of that time, according to the state’s data dashboard, up by 128 from Saturday. The previous high before the weekend, 3,497, came nearly two months earlier on April 29.
Hospitalized patient figures are increasing the most rapidly in a number of counties, most in Southern California but some in the Central Valley and Bay Area: each of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Imperial, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Ventura, Kings, Contra Costa and Solano on Friday or Saturday set, tied or came within two cases or fewer of their highest-ever total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in hospitals.
Sacramento County, with 39 cases in hospitals as of Saturday, increased from 28 hospitalized June 13. The county also had 39 hospitalized cases as of June 11; before that, the metric hadn’t been that high since April 30, after staying in the teens or even single digits throughout most of May.
Where do California’s testing numbers stand?
California continues to expand its capacity and availability for COVID-19 diagnostic tests. The state performed more than 92,000 such tests between Saturday and Sunday, the most in a single day, as now more than 3.4 million have been conducted in the state. Two months ago in late April, the state could handle roughly 20,000 tests a day.
More testing is part of the equation to the rising numbers, but as health officials have said previously, the reopening of numerous types of businesses from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, which went into place March 19, will inevitably also cause an increase in case transmission.
As of last Thursday, masks have been made mandatory in most indoor, public venues across California, as announced by Newsom’s office and the state Department of Public Health, with the governor saying he was seeing too many people gathered without face coverings. Previously wearing masks had only been strongly recommended as a means to cut down spread of COVID-19.
Rest of capital region: More new cases, no new deaths
Placer County health officials report that a total of 519 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and nine of them have died. The county reported 17 new cases in an update Monday morning, after 14 were added Saturday and 12 on Sunday.
Yolo County reported 17 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the highest daily case increase since it reported 17 new cases on April 6. West Sacramento reported 10 of the new cases on Monday, and five were reported in Woodland. Other recent increases came dangerously close to that high mark. On June 11, Yolo County health officials reported 15 new cases, then last Tuesday and Wednesday, they reported 16 new cases each day. Saturday brought 11 new cases and there were 10 more Sunday. A total of 347 coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the county and 24 people have died. Of these deaths, 17 have been connected to an outbreak at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland.
El Dorado County on Monday afternoon reported 15 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, nine of them were reported in the Lake Tahoe region. A total of 145 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and no deaths related to the virus have been reported. No patients were in the hospital for viral treatment on Monday.
Just outside of the four-county region, Sutter County health officials reported six new COVID-19 cases on Monday for a total of 118 infections and three deaths. Yuba County also reported one new case Monday for a total of 43 infections and one dead. While the numbers in these counties remain small, infection rates have been increasing.
World numbers: 9 million cases as WHO reports daily record
The global total for confirmed coronavirus infections surpassed 9 million on Monday, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Over 2.3 million of those cases have come in the United States.
The U.S., also on Monday, passed 120,000 COVID-19 deaths as the world death toll was over 470,000 on Monday evening. Brazil reports more than 51,000 deaths, followed by nearly 43,000 in the United Kingdom, almost 35,000 in Italy, nearly 30,000 in France and over 28,000 in Spain. Brazil also is the only other nation, aside from the U.S., with more than 1 million confirmed cases of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins.
The World Health Organization on Sunday said the world had set a record high for new daily cases, with more than 183,000 reported in a 24-hour span.
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 22, 2020 at 12:15 PM.
