Coronavirus updates: California hits grim milestones this week, with over 435,000 infected
The highest death toll reported in a single day since the pandemic began.
The highest increase of infections reported in a single day.
More COVID-19 cases than any other state.
This week, California hit several grim milestones in its battle against the coronavirus. The troubling news comes as the number of people infected by the virus soars, and the number of people requiring hospital care steadily ticks upward in the state and across the country.
Over 435,000 Californians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began, according to the latest state public health data released Friday morning, compared to over 410,000 in New York. (California also has the largest state population in the country.) More than 9,700 new cases in California were reported out Friday alone.
On Wednesday, California reported a record-setting 12,807 new cases in one day. And for the second day in a row, California announced its highest single-day death toll thus far: On Friday the state reported 159 more people were killed by the virus, bringing the total death toll to 8,186.
At least 6,950 people are in a hospital bed with COVID-19 and about 29% of them are receiving intensive care, according to state public health data released Friday morning. The number of people hospitalized with the virus is likely higher than that, because historical data from 23 facilities was not included in the state’s daily release because of a reporting issue.
Nearly two weeks ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced sweeping shutdowns across the state on businesses and schools to slow the record-breaking number of infections and hospitalizations.
That announcement joined a host of existing restrictions in the state meant to curtail the spread: Californians are prohibited from non-essential gatherings, and are strongly encouraged not to travel long distances from home to avoid the spread of the virus. Other state mandates, like requiring masks in public, are also still in effect.
But local health officials on the ground say that not everyone has been following public health orders, and enforcement can be tricky. Sacramento County health officials have said that family and friend gatherings appear to drive many of the recent infections locally. Other counties are continuing to see outbreaks at residential care facilities, prisons and industrial workplaces.
State and local health officials say if shutdowns have their intended effect, the state could see the growth of COVID-19 numbers slow down starting next week.
$600 unemployment payments are ending — will they return?
That extra $600 weekly payment for unemployed workers Congress allocated in March ends on Saturday, and no one knows when at least a portion of that payment may return.
That means the maximum benefit in California will revert back to $450 next week, instead of the $1,050 those unemployed workers earning the maximum have received weekly since the end of March.
Even if and when a replacement for the $600 is approved, it could be weeks before people see another extra payment.
“Any change to the $600 would require a fair amount of lead time for states to implement,” said Jesse Rothstein, faculty director of the nonpartisan California Policy Lab at Berkeley.
The delay means that hundreds of thousands of people could fall below the poverty line, suggests a study from the California Policy Lab.
The House in May voted to extend the $600 benefit through January. The Republican-run Senate balked, and has been in talks with the White House this week about an alternative. The Trump administration has suggested a system where 70% of wages would be replaced up to a certain level, as part of a broader economic relief package. Republican estimates are that such a plan could mean an extra $200 or so a week.
GOP negotiators have been unable to agree, however, and postponed unveiling their plan until next week.
Yolo County issues mandatory isolation, quarantine orders
Yolo County is now requiring any person who tests positive for COVID-19 to isolate at home for 10 days, and notify people they’ve been in recent close contact with that they must stay home as well.
If a person tests positive, or a person has been knowingly exposed to the virus, “compliance with COVID-19 isolation and quarantine requirements is vital” to curb the spread of the virus, county officials said in a press release Friday.
County officials say they have “identified instances” where people have tested positive or have been exposed to the coronavirus and are continuing to go out in the community.
“This hinders contact tracing efforts and threatens the overall health and safety of the community,” the county said.
It is one of the strictest and most explicit orders in the state, backed by the force of law, and comes as Yolo County has seen coronavirus cases balloon over the last month. Nearly 1,300 people have been infected in the county thus far, and 37 people have died from the virus since the pandemic started.
Cal Expo workers face layoffs after State Fair cancellation
Cal Expo plans to lay off at least half its staff after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the California State Fair and intensified what was already a difficult financial situation.
Tom Martinez, the agency’s chief deputy general manager, said Thursday that Cal Expo expects to lay off more than half of its full-time staff. The agency employs about 75 workers. He said he couldn’t provide exact numbers on the layoffs.
“Due to the ongoing and devastating financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must reduce the size of Cal Expo’s workforce,” the agency’s chief executive, Rick Pickering, said in a memo late last week to employees.
The event industry has been “decimated,” he continued, and it’s unclear when events might be allowed to operate in California. The memo said employees will get paid salary and medical benefits through Nov. 12.
The layoffs, which also are affecting other fairgrounds around the state, are the first significant cutbacks in state staffing since the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked California’s economy and forced Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to wrestle with a $54 billion deficit.
‘Egregious’ errors at California prison where hundreds infected
Health officials in Lassen County said state contractors testing for COVID-19 in prisons have been using unreliable methods to collect samples, a misstep that officials worry could have exacerbated an outbreak in the rural California county.
In a letter to the state health department this week, Lassen County’s top health official said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also has allowed infected nurses to transmit the disease — including to a prison healthcare worker — by not using personal protective equipment properly and monitoring themselves for signs of infection.
Lassen County is home to two state prisons and hundreds of corrections workers who live in Susanville and surrounding areas. An outbreak at California Correctional Center has infected about 500 incarcerated people, according to the state’s latest report. At least 266 inmates have active cases, and at least nine employees there have also contracted the disease.
County officials say the state has repeatedly offloaded inmates from infected prisons into the community before the proper 14-day quarantine period was over, opening yet another door for the virus to find a foothold in the sparsely populated county that for months has prided itself on keeping the virus at bay.
“We find that the actions by the state-run facilities to be egregious,” Barbara Longo, Lassen County’s director of health and social services, wrote in her Monday afternoon letter to the California Department of Public Health. “This situation has proven to be incredibly costly to Lassen County Public Health in both time and effort.”
Latest Sacramento-area numbers: 161 dead, over 12,000 infected
The six-county region of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba has seen 12,807 cases of the coronavirus as of Friday morning. The virus has killed a total of 161 in the region.
Sacramento County reported 306 new cases Friday morning, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections to 8,554 since the pandemic started. Over 100 people have now died due to the virus in the county — the death toll as of Friday morning is 103, according to the county’s data dashboard.
There are 239 COVID-19 patients in Sacramento County hospital beds as of Friday, an all-time high. Of those, 69 are in intensive care units, according to state public health data. About 13.6% of ICU beds are available.
Placer County reported 28 new cases Friday afternoon, bringing the total number of infections to 1,559. There are now 56 people hospitalized in Placer because of the virus, and 13 in intensive care. No new deaths were reported Friday; 13 people in the county have died due to COVID-19. The vast majority of cases, about 82%, have originated from the south Placer area, which includes Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln.
Yolo County on Friday afternoon reported 41 new COVID-19 cases after reporting 51 new cases Thursday. The county has reported 1,315 cases and 37 deaths since the pandemic started. No new deaths were reported Friday. About 1 in 10 infections have been linked to outbreaks at six long-term care facilities in Yolo County, resulting in 112 people infected and 20 deaths.
El Dorado County on Thursday afternoon reported 22 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths. The county, which has reported a total of 508 cases, also reported 22 new cases on Wednesday. Twelve of Thursday’s new cases were reported in the Lake Tahoe region, which has nearly half of the county’s cases reported since the start of the pandemic. The county had two people hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment on Thursday; those patients were both in intensive care.
Sutter County reported a record-tying 35 new COVID-19 cases Thursday night for a total of 601 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 13 people were in the hospital Thursday. Thursday’s reported cases match the county’s record from July 10. Four people in the county have died due to COVID-19, but no new deaths were reported Thursday.
Yuba County reported 19 new COVID-19 cases Thursday night for a total of 338 cases since the start of the pandemic. Of those, seven people were in the hospital Thursday. Three people in the county have died due to COVID-19, but no new deaths were reported Thursday.
In the Yuba-Sutter area, about one-third of the patients testing positive showed no symptoms of the virus, based on local public health data reported.
World numbers: Death toll over 636,000, more than 15 million infected
Over 15.6 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide and more than 636,000 have died as of Friday afternoon, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University. About one-quarter of each — over 4 million infections and more than 145,000 deaths — have come in the United States.
After the U.S., the coronavirus has hit hardest in Brazil, where nearly 2.3 million have tested positive and over 84,000 have died. Next by death toll are the United Kingdom at more than 45,700, Mexico at over 42,000, Italy at more than 35,000, France and India at just over 30,000 each, and Spain with over 28,000, 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 people 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 24, 2020 at 8:28 AM.