Sacramento County reports 9 coronavirus deaths in 3 days as infections approach 5,000
Sacramento County health officials on Wednesday announced multiple coronavirus fatalities for the third consecutive day, as the worst surge of the pandemic continues in the capital region and across California.
Two more people have died from COVID-19 for a death toll of 78, the county said in a Wednesday morning update, also adding 210 new cases for an all-time infection count of 4,776. Nine deaths from the respiratory disease have been reported since Monday, when the county reported five new deaths.
Both of the most recently reported deaths, as well as the pair announced Tuesday, came in the city of Sacramento, where at least 40 people have now died from the virus, according to the county health dashboard. The capital city has experienced just shy of 3,000 cases since the pandemic started.
The fatalities come as Sacramento County remains amid a now nearly three-week surge in new COVID-19 cases, patients hospitalized and patients in ICU beds with lab-confirmed cases of the virus.
Sacramento had 157 coronavirus patients in the hospital countywide, including 41 in the ICU, as of a Tuesday update to data maintained by the state health department. As recently as June 18, fewer than 40 patients were in hospitals, and only 13 in the ICU.
The grim, soaring figures come as a supply shortage is forcing the county to close five free COVID-19 testing sites that had been set up in under-served communities, the trickle-down of a nationwide supply issue. The Verily test center in the Cal Expo parking lot and one in Oak Park remain open.
The county remains on the state’s watch list due to its rising case rate, increasing hospitalizations and low availability of ICU beds. The state reported Tuesday that less than 18 percent of Sacramento County’s ICU beds were available.
Because of that, Sacramento’s bars and an array of indoor businesses including restaurant dining rooms, movie theaters, card rooms and other entertainment venues have been ordered closed since July 1.
The rate of COVID-19 tests returning positive continues to climb. Sacramento County’s rolling seven-day average has risen steadily and was up to 6.7 percent as of July 4, the county dashboard shows. The figure, which can be used as an indicator of the true spread of the virus while accounting for increased testing capacity, had stayed below 2 percent for about six weeks, from May 3 to June 16. The state puts a county on notice when positivity exceeds 8 percent; the World Health Organization discourages reopening at above 5 percent.
Just over 2,060 of the cases have an “episode date” listed between June 21 and July 4. Those 14 days, the most recent period available, account for 43 percent of the pandemic’s all-time infection total, reflecting an exponential growth trend.
Sacramento County health officials now denote 2,165 cases as “likely recovered.” Taking the 78 deaths into account, this suggests more than 2,500 total infections can be considered active countywide.
The age of confirmed cases also continue to trend younger in the area, as they have across the U.S. as testing has expanded: 51 percent of Sacramento cases have now come in people younger than age 40, up from 48 percent as of last Thursday, data show.
Six of the 78 deaths, including one of the nine reported this week, have been patients younger than 65.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 10:45 AM.
