Coronavirus infections reach 15,000 in Sacramento County, new death in Placer County
Sacramento County’s confirmed coronavirus infection total has surpassed 15,000, local health officials said Friday morning.
The county public health office added 262 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Friday morning’s data update for an all-time total of 15,246.
Health officials estimate about 11,800 of those people are “likely recovered,” while roughly 3,100 residents still have active infections, according to the county’s COVID-19 data dashboard.
The remaining 234 people have died, and include up of 147 capital city residents, 44 in unincorporated parts of Sacramento County, 12 in Citrus Heights, 11 in Elk Grove, nine in Rancho Cordova, six in Galt and five in Folsom, according to the dashboard.
For the county of roughly 1.5 million people, the 15,000-case milestone means about one out of every 100 residents has received a positive result for COVID-19, even though no more than one-sixth of the population has been tested. The county on Tuesday reported it has processed just over 255,000 test “specimens” over the course of the pandemic.
The positive cases are highly concentrated within the city of Sacramento, which accounts for more than 9,300 infections among its half-million residents — about one in every 54 people.
Additionally, in the wake of a surge in virus activity that started in late June, nearly two-thirds of Sacramento County’s 234 all-time COVID-19 deaths — 153 of them — have come since the start of July.
By date of death, county health officials report that 85 residents died in July, and at least 68 have succumbed to the respiratory disease in just the first 17 days of August, the most recent stretch with data available. That means the first two-and-a-half weeks of August have already been twice as deadly as the entire month of April, when there were 34 fatalities.
A majority of the deaths have come among the elderly: 108 victims were 80 or older (46%), 48 were in their 70s (21%) and 39 were in their 60s (17%).
The county, as of a Friday update to state data, had 232 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19, 77 of them in intensive care units. Hospital and ICU totals declined from peaks of about 280 and 90 in late July, respectively, and have plateaued near their current numbers since early August.
State numbers: California reaches almost 657,000 cases, nearing 12,000 dead
The California Department of Public Health reported increases of 6,556 lab-positive cases and 167 COVID-19 deaths in a Saturday morning update, pushing the state’s infection total to almost 657,000 and its death toll to 11,988.
Statewide hospitalization totals amid the health crisis continue to fall, one of the more promising signs that virus activity may be trending in the right direction: 4,659 patients are hospitalized with the disease, and just over 1,500 are in ICUs. Those are large declines from the nearly 7,200 hospitalized and 2,050 in the ICU, peaks reached one month earlier on July 21.
The pandemic has been impacting California for close to six months, not only killing and hospitalizing thousands but reshaping public life and dealing devastating blows to the economy as the state, nation and world have battled to rein in the highly contagious disease.
California has been under a stay-at-home order since Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered it March 19 in an effort to flatten the pandemic’s growth curve to keep surges of new infections from overwhelming the state’s hospital systems.
Newsom and the state loosened elements of that order, allowing some types of non-essential businesses to reopen from May through about mid-June. But faced with a surge in infection and hospitalization numbers, the stay-at-home order was tightened back up in early July.
California average cases, hospitalizations reflect months-long lows
California’s weekly average of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations has reached a new two-month low, state health officials said, signally a relief from the summer’s spike. Public health experts warn that the second-wave in the fall is still possible, though.
The seven-day average for new infections also decreased to 6,172 cases, according to state data on Saturday, the lowest it has been since July 5.
Deaths, while a more delayed indicator than cases and hospitalizations due to the disease, have decreased to a weekly average of 120 a day, as of Saturday.
The decrease in cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 reflects Newsom’s optimism that the state has begun “turning the corner” on the high peaks of the disease this summer, as he said in an Aug. 12 coronavirus news conference.
Sacramento region’s newest figures: 91 dead, nearly 8,000 infected
The remainder of Sacramento’s six-county region – El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba – have combined for 90 coronavirus deaths and a total of over 7,800 cases.
Yolo County health officials have reported a total of 2,184 COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths as of Saturday. The update added 20 new cases after reporting 17 cases Friday, 29 on Thursday and 24 Wednesday. There were nine patients in Yolo County hospitals as of Saturday, eight of them in ICUs, according to state data. The county has four ICU beds remaining.
Placer County has reported 2,740 cases and 31 deaths, adding 26 cases Thursday, 16 on Friday and 35 Saturday, with one new death disclosed Saturday. There are 51 people hospitalized in the county being treated specifically for COVID-19, 16 of whom are in ICUs.
The county’s relatively low rate of transmission allowed it to be taken off of the state’s watchlist on Wednesday. Placer estimated about 355 of its cases as active, as of Saturday.
El Dorado County has reported 896 COVID-19 cases and two deaths, with 11 new cases reported Friday. There was two patients infected with the virus in a hospital, both in intensive care units. The county estimates about 136 active cases.
El Dorado remains the only county in the greater Sacramento area to have not been placed onto the state’s regional coronavirus watchlist.
Sutter and Yuba Counties, which share a health office, have reported a total of 2,067 cases and 11 deaths. Yuba reports 26 COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the virus, with six of them in the ICU. Sutter reports no patients hospitalized, as of Saturday, according to state data.
While Yuba has nine available ICU beds, Sutter has none.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 12:21 PM.
