Coronavirus updates: 11,500 cases set new daily record for California
The coronavirus pandemic lost no steam in California over Fourth of July weekend, as hospitalization totals continue to climb and other alarming trends develop throughout various parts of the state.
The state has surpassed 271,000 lab-positive cases of COVID-19, increasing that total by a record 11,529 cases in a Monday update.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last Wednesday announced the first big rollback of the state’s economic reopening, which had been proceeding in phases from mid-May to mid-June.
The governor ordered 19 counties that had been on the state health department’s watch list at least three days due to elevated COVID-19 activity to immediately close all bars and suspend indoor operations at a number of business types, including dine-in restaurants and entertainment venues like movie theaters, for at least three weeks.
The list of counties, which includes Sacramento and Los Angeles, comprised about 30 million of California’s roughly 40 million residents.
Five more counties have showed up on the state’s monitoring list since last Friday: Colusa, Madera, Marin, Monterey and San Diego. They haven’t been on the list long enough yet for the state to order business closures, but San Diego County voluntarily reintroduced some restrictions last week before landing on the list. Closer to the capital, Yolo County also voluntarily dialed back on reopening.
With those five additions, and with Santa Clara County removed from the list Monday, California now has 23 counties that account for 33.3 million people — more than 83 percent of the state’s population — on notice due to coronavirus concerns.
A total of 5,790 patients were hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 across California, and 1,706 of them were in the ICU, as of a Monday data update by the state. Both are near all-time highs that have climbed quickly and steadily for a little over two weeks; ICU patients dropped by just six, from Sunday’s record 1,711. On June 20, there were just under 3,600 hospitalized in California and about 1,160 in the ICU, with each metric having remained stable since late April.
Newsom, local health officials in the Sacramento area and other health leaders have for weeks attributed most of the recent spike in cases and hospitalizations to groups of friends and extended family members becoming too lax in their social distancing protocols dating back to about Memorial Day, with contact tracing investigations linking outbreaks to private gatherings inside homes such as birthday and graduation parties.
But health leaders also expressed particular concern about the reopening of bars, which prompted Newsom two weeks ago to order all bars shut down in the state’s seven hardest-hit counties before expanding that to the list of 19 last week.
State and local leaders also worried about the impact of the July 4 holiday weekend, urging Californians not to gather at all beyond members of their immediate household. Stay-at-home restrictions made for some unique Independence Day celebrations. Traditional, officially sanctioned fireworks shows were canceled, but some cities like Folsom went forward with socially distanced, drive-in-movie-style displays.
To date, more than 271,000 have tested positive for COVID-19 in California, according to the state health department. At least 6,337 people have died.
In a blip of good news, state officials reported only 18 new fatalities from the virus on Sunday and only six more Monday, representing California’s two lowest one-day tallies dating back to late March.
But death concerns remain high. Given the typical time frame for patients with severe cases to succumb to the respiratory illness, the recent and still-ongoing spikes in infections, hospitalizations and ICU rates could lead to a corresponding fatality spike beginning anywhere from the next few days to the next two weeks or so.
California lawmaker tests positive
She is the first California lawmaker known to have caught the virus. The announcement comes four days after the Assembly set new restrictions following an employee testing positive.
Burke said she had “mask to mask” exposure to that employee, who was last at the Capitol on June 26, that same day.
Burke was notified of the exposure last Friday and tested positive Saturday, she tweeted.
State agencies enforce restrictions over July 4 weekend
California state agencies had a busy holiday weekend enforcing Newsom’s public health orders.
State agencies made thousands of calls and visits over the weekend in counties considered COVID-19 hotspots in the state, Newsom said during his Monday news conference.
That included nearly 6,000 personal visits at bars and restaurants by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
It also included more than 441,000 phone calls, visits and emails by the Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
The state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology contacted 311 licensees.
“Significant improvement and increase in enforcement over the weekend. Most of it, again, in an educational paradigm, though there was plenty of citation,” Newsom said.
The governor on Monday also reiterated that he plans to use $2.5 billion in emergency aid as leverage to get counties to comply with his public health orders, including a statewide mandate to wear masks in public.
“If they’re simply unwilling to do it, then we will redirect those dollars to communities that are,” Newsom said.
Sacramento area by the numbers: 111 dead, over 6,200 infected
Sacramento County on Monday morning reported five new deaths from COVID-19 and 159 new cases, continuing alarming trends near the capital. The county has now confirmed 74 coronavirus deaths and close to 4,400 infected.
The four-county region of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties surpassed 6,200 total confirmed infections over the weekend. Two newly reported deaths out of Yolo increased the four counties’ combined death toll to 106.
Of the four, only Sacramento was on the state watch list as of Monday morning. But El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties have all suffered recent setbacks in the pandemic, infection and hospitalization figures show.
▪ Sacramento County reported its two highest-ever daily COVID-19 infection totals over the holiday weekend: 333 on Independence Day, 232 more Sunday and 159 on Monday, county public health officials said.
Those 724 new cases pushed the positive test total to 4,395 since the pandemic started, according to the county’s data dashboard.
After growing only about 33 percent from early May to early June, Sacramento County’s all-time case total has nearly tripled over the past month. The figure grew from a little more than 1,100 as of May 5 to just over 1,500 by June 5, and has now surged to more than 4,200.
The number of patients currently hospitalized with the respiratory disease also continues to explode. According to state data updated Monday, 148 confirmed COVID-19 patients were in hospital beds across Sacramento County. That figure is more than triple the 39 hospitalized two weeks earlier on June 20; more than 20 times the low point of the pandemic, when seven were hospitalized as of May 21; and close to double a previous peak experienced in early April, when Sacramento County had as many as 77 patients in hospital beds at once.
Of the current 148 patients, 41 are in intensive care units, down from a record-high 42 one day earlier, state data show. The county has 89 available ICU beds.
▪ Placer County public health officials reported a record-high 49 new cases Sunday and 34 more Monday morning, with 25 now patients hospitalized and five of them in the ICU.
Placer has now seen 911 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11 fatalities over the course of the pandemic.
▪ Yolo County reported 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, 21 of those cases were reported in Woodland. The county now has a total of 705 cases, and it added one new death Friday and another Sunday for a total of 26. County officials disclosed 32 new infections each on Saturday and Sunday.
Yolo also announced Sunday that COVID-19 has been detected at another senior living facility. Alderson Convalescent Hospital has 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19, six of them patients and four of them staff members. The facility’s staff and residents were all tested Thursday, but not all results have returned, the county said.
Alderson is the fifth senior care home in Yolo County, and the third in Woodland, with at least one confirmed coronavirus case.
The worst outbreak by far and the only one with any confirmed fatalities has been that of Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, located at the St. John’s Retirement Village complex in Woodland. A total of 17 people have died at Stollwood, including at least one staff member, as 32 residents and 34 employees have tested positive for the virus.
The Californian, an assisted living and dementia care facility in Woodland, has had one reported case in a resident, Yolo County says. Courtyard Healthcare Center in Davis reports four cases in residents and two staff members testing positive. And Riverbend Nursing Center in West Sacramento has disclosed two cases involving residents.
▪ El Dorado County on Monday reported 36 new COVID-19 cases that accumulated over the weekend. The county, which now has a total of 262 cases, has, throughout the pandemic, fared best in the Sacramento area for coronavirus activity. But in recent days, it has broken records for new cases. In its most recent update last Friday, county health officials reported 20 new cases — 9 percent of its all-time total of 226.
El Dorado still has no confirmed COVID-19 deaths. At roughly 190,000 residents, it’s by far California’s most populous county with zero coronavirus fatalities. Next is Mendocino County, where fewer than 90,000 people live. Lake County had been No. 3, until it reported its first virus-related death over the weekend.
▪ North of the capital region, Sutter County saw its highest day of infection yet on Friday, reporting 23 new COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, 15 more cases were added. The county reported 10 new cases Sunday. A total of 252 people have been infected and three have died. Seven people are currently in the hospital.
Yuba County reported eight new COVID-19 cases Sunday, and now has a total of 128 cases. The county reported its second death on Saturday. The last dates back to early April. Health officials for the Yuba-Sutter bicounty area reported 18 new cases Sunday and 14 new cases Saturday after seeing a record-high increase of 19 infections on Wednesday.
Kings’ Golden 1 Center practice facility closed due to positive test
The Sacramento Kings were forced to cancel individual workouts at the team’s downtown practice facility at Golden 1 Center after a member of the team’s traveling party reportedly tested positive Sunday.
A league source, confirming to The Bee the shutdown first reported Sunday by The Athletic, said the Kings have called off Monday and Tuesday workouts. The team is supposed to depart Wednesday for Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where the NBA season is scheduled to resume July 30.
It’s unknown whether the person who tested positive Sunday is a player, coach or staff member. Kings guard Buddy Hield, forward Jabari Parker and center Alex Len previously tested positive for COVID-19.
Any player who tests positive must quarantine and produce two negative tests results before receiving medical clearance to make the trip to Florida.
San Quentin prison outbreak puts Marin County on high alert
A devastating COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison, which has been blamed by state lawmakers for a “botched” inmate transfer from the site of a previous outbreak at a state prison in Chino, is a primary reason for the state placing Marin on its county watch list over the weekend.
As of Monday morning, at least 1,388 incarcerated at San Quentin had active cases of the coronavirus, according to data maintained by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Three others have died, all of them reportedly on death row; 17 have recovered; and 13 more were released with still-active cases of the disease.
A total of 165 San Quentin staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 as of last Friday, up from about 115 earlier in the week, CDCR reported.
The state’s monitoring list calls the San Quentin outbreak one of a handful of “drivers” of increased disease transmission and hospitalizations, as well as limited hospital capacity, in Marin County.
As of last Friday, just over 500 employees across all the state’s prisons had active cases of COVID-19, CDCR reported.
World numbers: 11.5 million infected, 536,000 dead
More than 11.5 million have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide and nearly 537,000 have died as of Monday afternoon, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
About one-quarter of each — over 2.9 million infections and 130,000 deaths — have come in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.
After the U.S., the coronavirus has hit hardest in Brazil, where 1.6 million have tested positive and over 65,000 have died as of Monday afternoon. Next by death toll are the United Kingdom at over 44,000, Italy at nearly 35,000, Mexico at over 30,000, France at just under 30,000, Spain at more than 28,000 and India approaching 20,000, 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.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 9:25 AM.
