Sacramento reaches 300 COVID-19 deaths. 1 in 28 city residents have tested positive
More than 300 residents in the city of Sacramento have died of the coronavirus, county health officials said Thursday.
The capital city, which makes up about one-third of Sacramento County’s population of 1.5 million people, has accumulated nearly 18,500 known cases since the start of the health crisis.
That means roughly one in every 28 Sacramento residents has tested positive for the contagious respiratory disease, which was first detected in the region eight months ago.
In Sacramento County as a whole, more than 32,400 residents have tested positive and 544 have died, according to the local health office. Along with the capital at 303, the death toll includes 129 in unincorporated areas of the county and dozens of residents in the suburbs of Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Galt and Folsom.
The 300-death mark comes as the city, county, state, nation and world deal with enormous and fast-developing surges in coronavirus activity that has placed burden on hospital systems and prompted reinvigorated economic shutdowns.
The California Department of Public Health recently reported an upward jolt in Sacramento County infections, from 9.7 new cases per 100,000 the week ending Oct. 31 to 21.7 per 100,000 the week ending Nov. 10. The latter figure more than tripled the state’s 7.0 threshold for the “purple” tier, into which Gov. Gavin Newsom and health leaders plunged the vast majority of the state Monday due to broad spikes in COVID-19 spread.
Sacramento County on Wednesday surpassed 200 patients concurrently hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 for the first time since late August. By Thursday it reached 227. The patient total was as low as 76 in late October.
County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson, along with many health leaders nationwide as virus numbers explode to record highs, have recently called upon residents to cancel in-person Thanksgiving plans involving members of multiple households.
“Thanksgiving is going to be a real problem,” he told The Sacramento Bee this month. “It’s understandable. People want to get together with family. We ask that you do a virtual Thanksgiving gathering so that the whole family can enjoy the next 30 years of in-person Thanksgiving gatherings.”
Beilenson and county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye are also coordinating to propose an ordinance that would allow the county to fine businesses that refuse to follow state and local pandemic protocols, as The Bee first reported last week. Originally set to be heard by the Board of Supervisors during a Tuesday meeting, the item was pushed back and will now be considered in early December.
Sacramento’s rate of new deaths has slowed since the summer surge, with the county reporting 54 in October following about 180 in August and over 115 in September.
Infections are still climbing locally at a furious pace. The county on Thursday reported 559 new lab-confirmed cases, a new single-day record.
It’s too early to know how death numbers will shape up in the coming months, but they’re virtually certain to begin accelerating soon. Increasing hospitalizations and especially intensive care unit rates — which are also surging fast in Sacramento, exceeding 50 on Thursday for the first time in almost three months — have consistently been predictors of fatality spikes, which tend to begin a few weeks after hospital numbers start to jump.
With that said, doctors and nurses also have more experience handling coronavirus patients than they did months earlier in the pandemic, with techniques like proning and better therapeutics at the ready for severe hospitalized cases.
The city reached 100 coronavirus deaths five months into the pandemic in early August, then crossed 200 in mid-September. The most recent hundred took a little over two months, as infection and hospitalization numbers improved during September and early October.
Age trends for cases, deaths in Sacramento
Across the county, cases have been distributed within age groups roughly in line with their population shares: health officials say 8% of cases have come in juveniles, 59% in adults ages 18 to 49, 19% in ages 50 to 64 and 13% in age 65-plus. About 40% of known infections have been in adults in their 20s or 30s, county data show.
Deaths, though, have not been spread out evenly. As has been clear from the beginning of the health crisis, COVID-19 is by far the deadliest to oldest populations, with nursing homes among the most vulnerable outbreak settings.
Nearly half of Sacramento County’s deaths, at least 258 of them, were 80 years old or older. At least 110 were in their 70s (20%), more than 90 were in their 60s (17%) and more than 50 were in their 50s (10%).
People under age 50 have combined for fewer than 30 deaths as of Thursday, about 5% of the county’s total. The local health office breaks down age ranges and other demographic breakdowns at the county level, but not city-by-city.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 12:36 PM.
