Coronavirus updates: Elk Grove seniors facility reports outbreak, UOP goes online for fall
Sacramento County has seen another deadly week, this time adding to its coronavirus death toll by a dozen, according to public health officials.
On Tuesday, eight deaths were reported all at once, although public health officials said that due to reporting delays, the deaths occurred between late June and the date of reporting. Wednesday brought another reported death, and four more deaths were reported between Thursday and Saturday, bringing the county’s total to 96 dead of COVID-19. Of these, 15 were in patients younger than the age of 65.
This week, Sacramento County passed 6,000 total infections, but has already almost reached 6,700. Thus far, 6,693 county residents have been infected with coronavirus, up by 182 from Friday’s figures. The majority of cases have been in people aged 18 to 49, who account for roughly 60 percent of the total. Despite the fact that patients older than 65 account for a relatively small share of infections, about 12 percent, 81 of all deaths have been in people of this age group.
As infections in the county have been increasing, so too have hospitalization rates. According to the California Department of Public Health, there are currently 185 county residents hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 59 people are being treated in intensive care units. In mid-June, there were only about 30 people hospitalized in Sacramento County, a number which has since exploded. In the past two weeks alone, hospitalizations have increased by 30 percent. There are 76 ICU beds still available for the county’s roughly 1.5 million residents.
Upward trends in infections and hospitalizations are not endemic to the Sacramento area. California more broadly has been experiencing similar increases in recent weeks, as cases continue to surge across the state.
More than 366,000 Californians have been infected with coronavirus and 7,475 people have died as of Saturday. Although infection rates have been increasing sharply since mid-June, death rates have only recently begun to increase. In the past two weeks, statewide cases have gone up by nearly 50 percent, and deaths have gone up by almost 20 percent in the same time span. California’s highest single-day death toll came on July 8, when 149 more COVID-19 fatalities were reported. Tuesday came close to that high-water mark, as 140 more deaths were reported by state health officials.
Yolo County health officials have reported a total of 1,101 cases and 31 deaths. On Friday, 39 new cases and one new death were reported. The county has seen outbreaks at several long-term care facilities, which account for 106 of the total number of cases and 18 of all deaths.
Woodland’s Stollwood Convalescant Hospital reported an outbreak in April, and as of yet, is the most severe outbreak in the county. There, 66 people connected to the facility have been infected with coronavirus and 17 have died.
At Alderson Convalescent Hospital, also in Woodland, 10 residents and seven staff members have been infected. Courtyard Healthcare Center in Davis has reported infections in four residents and three staff members. There are currently 14 patiens in hospitals, 11 of whom are in ICUs. The county has no ICU beds remaining.
Placer County has reported a total of 1,280 cases and 11 deaths. Of these cases, 957 are considered likely to have recovered, which means about 300 are still active. On Saturday, 45 new cases were added. The county’s highest daily infections came on July 5, when 49 people were confirmed to have coronavirus. There are 51 people hospitalized in the county and eight being treated in ICUs. The county has 30 ICU beds available.
El Dorado County is the only county in the greater Sacramento area to have not been placed onto the state’s regional coronavirus watchlist, reflecting its relatively low infection and hospitalization rates. The county is also one of the few in Northern California to have not reported a single death yet. As of Friday, 394 people had tested positive for coronavirus and two were being treated in ICUs. The county has nine ICU beds available.
Sutter County has reported a total of 491 cases and four deaths. On Friday, health officials added 21 new cases. Ten people are currently being hospitalized. The highest single day of infections was on July 10, when 35 new cases were added. In neighboring Yuba County, 252 people have been infected and three have died. On Friday, 16 new cases were added in one of the highest single-day infection reports. On July 1, 19 people tested positive for coronavirus, which set a daily infection record. On July 10, 17 people tested positive. Six people in Yuba County are currently being hospitalized.
Worldwide, more than 14.1 million people have been infected with the coronavirus and almost 600,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States accounts for the largest share of infections for any one country, with 3.6 million cases and 139,000 deaths. Brazil is the next leading nation, with just over 2 million infections and 77,000 deaths. India recently broke the 1 million mark for infections, and has reported 26,000 deaths.
UOP closes campus for fall
Stockton’s University of the Pacific joined a growing number of colleges changing course and switching to mostly online instruction for the fall semester as cases continue to mount in California.
In a statement sent out to students and faculty, UOP leadership said that infections in the region were too high to move forward with the plans previously set forth to hold classes in person.
“Our plans have always been predicated on the state of COVID-19 as we got closer to the start of the academic year. Unfortunately, our region’s flat and comparatively low rates of COVID-19 cases experienced through the spring have rapidly accelerated over the past month,” university officials said in the statement. “Therefore, we have determined that it would be unwise to reopen our campuses as we had hoped and planned. While disappointing to many of us – and certainly not the semester we anticipated — the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff must and will always take precedence.”
The university, like many others in the area, went online during the spring semester as the coronavirus pandemic swept across California, and officials are hopeful that, having had the time to refine the process, the remote learning experience will be improved.
This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered most public schools to close, citing the recent coronavirus surge.
Outbreak at Elk Grove nursing home
A senior care facility in Elk Grove announced this week that the coronavirus has spread among some of its staff.
MBK Senior Living, located in Elk Grove on Sabrina Lane, said that two employees who were asymptomatic tested positive for coronavirus.
The facility, which has undergone testing of parts of its staff per public health guidelines, found that the two tested positive on Wednesday. A spokesperson for MBK Senior Living said they are both now in self-isolation at their homes.
No residents have yet to show symptoms of COVID-19, according to the spokesperson, and test kits which can accommodate all staff and residents will arrive on Monday to determine if further infection has occurred.
All residents at the facility have been directed to self-isolate, and all group activities have been suspended. Since finding out about the outbreak, the facility has upped its daily coronavirus screening checks to twice daily checks for staff and three times every day for residents.
MBK Senior Living has several locations throughout California. The Elk Grove facility houses 99 residents and has 75 employees.
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.