Coronavirus updates: Placer officially off California watchlist; deaths slowing statewide
As fires rage across Northern California, the “stay-at-home” component of statewide coronavirus restrictions is being thrown out the window.
Vacaville residents evacuated their homes in the early hours of Wednesday, with more evacuation orders continuing through mid-morning Wednesday, as an enormous complex of lightning-sparked fires destroyed at least several dozen homes across Napa and Solano counties, and is threatening thousands more.
Alex Vlasache, who lives on a ranchette a few miles west of Vacaville, managed to narrowly escape the fire with his wife and two children. His family is waiting in their camper in a furniture store parking lot, trying to find a place to go.
Staying at home isn’t an option for the family, making isolation to prevent the spread of the coronavirus a much more difficult task.
Wednesday marks exactly five months since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his stay-at-home order, shutting down businesses and gatherings across California in an effort to curb spread of the highly contagious virus, which causes the respiratory disease called COVID-19.
That order was loosened from May to early June, then re-tightened at the start of July as virus activity began to surge. Now, Newsom and other state leaders are hopeful those renewed efforts will see COVID-19 figures continue to decline, as the public health crisis bumps up against a separate but all-too-familiar crisis for California: wildfire season.
California reports over 6,000 cases, 181 deaths
California added 6,164 new lab-confirmed cases in a Wednesday update from the California Department of Public health. The state on Tuesday had reported its smallest daily increase dating back to late June — not counting those impacted by a recently resolved statewide backlog issue — with only 4,636 new cases. Both are well below a peak observed in late July.
To date, California has recorded 638,831 total lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 11,500 coronavirus deaths during the pandemic, reporting 181 fatalities Wednesday morning, according to CDPH data.
The state has worked through its backlog of COVID-19 cases, Newsom and state health officials confirmed Monday, giving a clearer picture of how coronavirus activity is trending. The state’s watchlist also resumed adding and removing counties at the start of this week now that the data issue has been resolved. A total of 40 counties are on that list as of Wednesday afternoon.
The statewide total of patients hospitalized with the virus fell below 5,000 on Monday for the first time in nearly two months, then jumped back over that mark with 86 additional patients Tuesday. The total changed minimally Wednesday, with a net drop of just three for a total of 5,058 hospitalized cases. The hospitalization total had spiked in late July to nearly 7,200.
The ICU total is also down about 20% in the past three weeks, to about 1,590 as of Wednesday from an all-time high over 2,000.
Placer County removed from state watchlist
State health officials on Wednesday officially removed Placer County from the state’s monitoring list, the third county to come off that list since it was unfrozen Monday.
The removal means state data showed Placer meeting all the necessary thresholds — fewer than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the preceding two weeks, stabilizing hospitalization rates and adequate available ICU beds and ventilators — for three straight days.
Placer County Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson told the Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting of the impending removal.
“Yes, you heard that right. We’re coming off the monitoring list,” she said.
San Diego County came off the list Tuesday and Santa Cruz County was removed retroactive to last Friday.
Removal from the watchlist for three straight days allows counties to proceed with on-campus learning at colleges and universities, while staying off the list for at least two straight weeks allows them to permit in-school instruction at K-12 campuses.
However, the state has not yet clarified what watchlist removal means for businesses, churches and other gathering places. As written, there’s nothing from CDPH or the governor’s office saying when counties like Placer, San Diego and Santa Cruz will be permitted to reopen a number of different businesses that watchlist status made them close down.
Since July 13, being placed on the county monitoring list has required counties to close indoor operations for gyms, places of worship, offices, personal care services and shopping malls. Officials in the three recently removed counties have all sought more details from the state regarding when they may be allowed to reopen those businesses.
Other establishments, including bars and indoor dine-in restaurants, have been ordered closed statewide regardless of watchlist status, also since early July.
New Yolo County outbreak reported at elderly home
Another elderly care home in Woodland, this one an assisted living facility, is amid an outbreak of COVID-19 with at least 16 total confirmed cases, Yolo County said in a Wednesday statement.
Infections at Gloria’s Country Care include seven residents and nine staff. None of them have died as of Wednesday, the county says.
County health officials “immediately tested all residents and staff” after one resident tested positive this past weekend. Results came in late Monday.
“At this time, the County asks that residents and staff be given space and privacy to focus on their health and work,” Yolo County said in a prepared statement.
Coronavirus deaths slow as hospitalizations decrease
Coronavirus deaths are showing signs of potentially beginning to slow down in California since early August, as hospitalizations also drop significantly, a sign that the summer’s surge in infections may have ebbed.
The state’s seven-day average for deaths has leveled off over the past week since hitting an all-time high of 145 on Aug. 6, according to data compiled by the Bay Area News Group. That average dropped to about 125 weekly deaths as of Tuesday. A day later, though, Wednesday’s 181 reported deaths ranked among the highest California has reported in a single day.
Southern California accounts for the bulk of the deaths, with Los Angeles County alone making up 5,335 of the state’s 11,523 deaths. Since hitting a seven-day average peak of more than 50 deaths in mid-July, the county’s weekly deaths have now dropped below 40 for the first time in three weeks.
Latest Sacramento-area numbers: More than 315 dead
The six-county region – Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba – has reported 316 combined coronavirus deaths, reaching the 300-death milestone Monday after surpassing 20,000 lab-confirmed cases last Thursday. About a dozen additional deaths, and another 200 infections, have recently been reported in Amador County, Sacramento’s neighbor to the east, with all of those fatalities linked to elderly care homes.
Sacramento County health officials have reported 14,760 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus and the pandemic’s death toll among residents has soared to 230. The county added 158 lab-confirmed infections in Wednesday’s update. The city of Sacramento has surpassed 9,000 cases.
According to state data as of Wednesday, 248 people are being treated in county hospitals, 81 of whom are in ICUs. The county has 104 ICU beds available for its roughly 1.5 million residents, according to the state. Both hospitalization figures have plateaued near their current figures in Sacramento County since about the start of August, after declining slightly from a late July peak.
Yolo County health officials have reported a total of 2,118 COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths. Wednesday’s update added 24 new cases after reporting 21 cases Tuesday, 30 cases Monday, 25 cases Sunday and 58 Saturday. There were seven patients in hospitals in the county Tuesday, three of whom were in ICUs, according to state data. The county has four ICU beds remaining.
Yolo has seen outbreaks at several long-term care facilities, which account for 118 of its case total and 22 of its fatalities. Woodland’s Stollwood Convalescent Hospital reported an outbreak in April and it is still the most severe outbreak in the county. There, 66 people connected to the facility have been infected with coronavirus and 17 have died. The facility will close permanently in September.
A new outbreak reported Wednesday at a long-term care facility, Gloria’s Country Care in Woodland, has left seven residents and nine staff infected.
Placer County has reported 2,663 cases and 30 deaths, adding 18 cases Tuesday and 20 Wednesday, with two new deaths disclosed Wednesday. Placer also reported a death Saturday, one Friday and two deaths on each of last Tuesday and Wednesday. The county’s relatively low rate of transmission allowed it to be taken off of the state’s watchlist on Wednesday.
There are 64 people hospitalized in the county being treated specifically for COVID-19, 11 of whom are in ICUs.
El Dorado County has reported 877 COVID-19 cases and two deaths, with six new cases reported Wednesday afternoon. A week ago Monday, the county reported its second COVID-19 death. There was one patient infected with the virus in hospitals in the county Tuesday, in an intensive care unit. The county has 11 available ICU beds.
El Dorado County remains the only county in the greater Sacramento area to have not been placed onto the state’s regional coronavirus watchlist.
Sutter County has reported a total of 1,157 cases and seven deaths. Seventeen people are being hospitalized there, four of whom are in the ICU.
In neighboring Yuba County, 786 people have been infected and four have died. On Friday, 21 new cases were reported and on Thursday, 30 more were added. Yuba has 13 residents hospitalized with the virus, two of them in the ICU.
World numbers: Over 22 million infected, 780,000 dead
Data maintained by Johns Hopkins University shows more than 22.2 million lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus have been reported as of Wednesday afternoon. The world death toll was over 783,000, of which more than 172,000 have been in the United States.
Brazil is next at more than 109,000 dead, followed by Mexico at over 57,000 and India at almost 53,000.
The United Kingdom’s count on Monday was lowered by more than 5,000 after the government changed its methodology, The New York Times reported. The U.K. now shows more than 41,000 COVID-19 deaths.
More than 35,000 have died in Italy, over 30,000 in France, more than 28,000 in Spain, 26,000 in Peru and just over 20,000 in Iran. Colombia and Russia each have death tolls above 15,000, according to Johns Hopkins. Chile and South Africa are between 10,000 and 12,000 dead. Canada, Germany and Belgium have recorded more than 9,000 fatalities.
The U.S. accounts for over 5.5 million lab-positive COVID-19 cases, the most of any nation and about one-quarter of the worldwide total.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 12:58 PM.
