Sacramento County passes 4,500 coronavirus cases, reports 2 more deaths for 76 total
Two more coronavirus patients have died in Sacramento County for a total of seven fatalities reported this week, health officials said Tuesday.
Sacramento County’s all-time death toll has reached 76 following five reported Monday and two Tuesday, according to the county’s COVID-19 data dashboard. The two most recently reported deaths came in the city of Sacramento, where 38 have died so far and more than 2,800 have been infected.
County health officials added 171 new lab-confirmed cases Tuesday morning, bringing the all-time tally to 4,566. That figure has more than tripled since June 5, when the county reached the 1,500-case milestone.
According to state data updated Tuesday, 157 patients were hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 countywide, an all-time high that continues to swell, growing by nine from Monday’s update. Of currently hospitalized patients, 41 are in the ICU.
The county, along with most of the rest of California, is seeing a spike in coronavirus activity that began in mid-June. Local health leaders attributed the beginning of that spike to too many group gatherings among friends and extended family members, such as birthday and graduation parties, with little to no social distancing being observed beginning around Memorial Day weekend in late May.
In response to elevating cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week ordered 19 counties including Sacramento to immediately close all bars and a number of indoor businesses for at least three weeks.
Sacramento County is facing the impending closure of five COVID-19 test centers due to a nationwide supply shortage.
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 10:48 AM.
