Coronavirus updates: Sacramento County reports 1,100 cases in a day, another record
California has entered its 10th calendar month of the coronavirus pandemic, and like most of the U.S., the state is trying to avert a full-on catastrophe in December as hospital systems face potential overwhelm from soaring COVID-19 patient totals.
More records fell Tuesday. California expanded on its all-time high, reaching 8,240 concurrent virus patients. That total grew by a net of 453 compared to Monday, which is also the biggest day-over-day increase to date.
In the capital region, Sacramento County on Tuesday reported more than 1,100 new lab-confirmed cases, breaking a daily record set one week earlier by a margin of almost 160. The county is very quickly approaching 40,000 cumulative cases during the pandemic.
The Golden State is already amid its worst surge yet of the health crisis in terms of new infections, and the numbers do not yet reflect an expected jolt from Thanksgiving gatherings. The holiday saw millions of Americans participate in the busiest air travel week of the pandemic.
It’ll still take about another week before the potential impact of Thanksgiving gatherings starts to emerge in new case data. Even so, California added nearly 100,000 new cases for the seven-day period ending Tuesday — an average of more than 14,000 a day, which is far more than any period from the earlier summer surge.
Testing capacity has been on the rise, but the California Department of Public Health says 7% of diagnostic tests processed in the past week returned positive, with the two-week rate now at 6.5%. The statewide rate was half that, 3.2%, at the start of November.
California reported 12,221 new cases Tuesday, slightly lower than the past two weeks’ average, but that total came from a far smaller pool of diagnostic tests — just 136,000, after down from a 14-day average of over 210,000. About 9% of Tuesday’s returned results were positive, another concerning short-term data point.
To date, 1.22 million Californians have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 19,000 have died of the virus, according to CDPH.
Newsom hints at new restrictions as ICUs fill up fast
The situation in hospitals is growing increasingly dire every day, with the overall virus case load tripling statewide in the past four weeks.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday shared health officials’ projections that the state could run out of non-surge intensive care unit beds by mid-December as patient totals continue to grow exponentially.
The governor in a virtual news briefing suggested that another strict stay-at-home order like the one first imposed in March could again be necessary in order to stave off hospital overwhelm. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said ICU capacities would be the “primary trigger” for such restrictive actions.
Some regions, including the greater Sacramento area, are on track to exhaust ICU capacity in late December, around Christmas Eve. But the more rural, sparsely populated parts of the state north of the capital region could run out even earlier, possibly within the next two weeks, Newsom said.
The state’s hospitalization dashboard as of Tuesday showed 1,890 COVID-19 patients in intensive care with 1,937 ICU beds remaining available statewide, but those beds are by no means distributed evenly within the state. Nearly 600 of them, for instance, are in Los Angeles County.
Newsom, along with state and local health officials, have largely blamed the ongoing surge on too many people convening for private, indoor, mixed-household gatherings with friends and family in which people let down their guard about masks and social distancing.
But as Ghaly has explained on multiple occasions, even if the surge’s origin is from private parties, the now-rampant spread of COVID-19 makes every situation involving interaction outside of one’s own household much riskier — there are simply far more cases, and thus a much higher likelihood of coming across someone who is contagious out in the community.
The state two weeks ago widely rolled back the vast majority of California into the strictest “purple” tier, meaning restaurants, gyms, places of worship and more must stay closed for indoor operations. Both Ghaly and Newsom have used the metaphor of these restrictions being an “emergency brake” measure to rein in out-of-control virus activity.
While the surge is more intense and widespread than earlier ones, prisons and senior living facilities remain two of the key hot spots for coronavirus activity. The latter are home to some of California’s most vulnerable residents, given how deadly COVID-19 is for the oldest of populations; and the former present significant challenges for social distancing, given historic overcrowding in those institutions.
Skilled nursing outbreaks continue
California’s licensed skilled nursing facilities have accounted for more than one-quarter of all COVID-19 deaths statewide during the pandemic: as of Monday, more than 5,000 residents and about 160 staff at these facilities have succumbed to the virus, according to a CDPH data dashboard.
Over 32,000 nursing home residents have tested positive during the health crisis, with close to 2,500 of those cases still considered active as of Monday.
About 250 of the active cases were spread across a dozen facilities in Sacramento County. The state says 121 skilled nursing residents have died in the county.
Another 87 active cases were at a pair of licensed facilities in Yolo County, which has already suffered some of Northern California’s deadliest senior living outbreaks at two different facilities.
Seventy-eight residents tested positive and 20 died at Alderson Convalescent Hospital in Woodland during two distinct outbreaks there — a smaller one in July and a larger one in October. And 15 died among 32 infections during a spring outbreak at 48-bed Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, also in Woodland.
Stollwood closed permanently at the end of September, emotionally and financially ravaged by the virus.
Record-high inmate infections at California prisons
To date, more than 21,000 inmates in California’s state prison system have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 88 have died of the disease. Nearly 6,000 state prison employees have contracted the virus and at least 10 have died, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
CDCR reported Tuesday morning having more than 3,700 active cases in incarcerated inmates across its 35 prisons. That’s over 1,000 more active inmate cases than the peak of the summer surge, CDCR’s COVID-19 data tracker shows. CDCR reported almost 1,900 new confirmed cases for the week of Nov. 15, followed by 1,500 more the week of Nov. 22.
While earlier inmate case loads at CDCR were concentrated within severe outbreaks at large prisons, including Folsom, San Quentin and Avenal, the current total is composed of moderately high case totals at many correctional facilities.
The California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran had the most as of Tuesday at just over 1,000, followed by High Desert State Prison in Susanville at about 600. Seven other prisons ranged from 100 to 500 inmate cases, and five others had at least 30.
California State Prison, Sacramento — nicknamed “New Folsom” to distinguish it from adjacent and historic Folsom State Prison — on Saturday reported 21 new inmate cases after having confirmed just 18 cases in the prior eight months.
The recently emerging outbreak appears to have hit prison staff first: in a separate webpage tracking those cases, last updated Wednesday, CDCR reported 31 actively infected employees at California State Prison, Sacramento.
Who will get earliest doses of a vaccine?
Also on Monday, Newsom announced California could receive as many as 327,000 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine “within the next few weeks.”
Pfizer has applied for emergency use authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and plans to start distributing its vaccine almost instantly if the application is approved. The FDA has a meeting regarding Pfizer’s vaccine scheduled for Dec. 10.
California’s first phase of vaccine distribution prioritizes health care workers, but because there will not be enough for all of those workers in the first round of delivered vaccines, the advisory committee has approved a tiered plan that further “sub-prioritizes” those who come in direct contact with positive COVID-19 cases.
The first tier, first in line for an available vaccine, includes workers at acute care, correctional and psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes, along with paramedics and emergency responders. The second tier includes staff at intermediate care facilities, clinics, urgent care and correctional facilities. The third tier includes dental offices and laboratories.
Sacramento County breaks another case record
The six-county Sacramento area has combined for at least 766 deaths and more than 58,000 total confirmed infections during the health crisis.
As of Tuesday, hospitals in those six counties were treating at least 548 COVID-19 patients.
Sacramento County has recorded 38,999 lab-positive coronavirus cases and 586 resident deaths from the virus.
Health officials reported 1,115 new cases Tuesday, blowing past the previous single-day record of 957 set Nov. 24.
The local health office reported 1,254 new cases for the three-day window of Monday plus the weekend, following 891 combined total for Thanksgiving and Friday. That equates to an average of about 430 new cases each of those five days.
The county now estimates more than 9,000 lab-confirmed cases — more than one-fifth of the all-time total — are currently active.
Hospitalizations continue to surge and are now well above the summer record of 281 concurrent patients. By Tuesday, the countywide total reached 344, including 71 in ICUs, according to state data. Only 78 ICU beds remain available.
At least 53 Sacramento County residents have died from Nov. 1 through Nov. 22, health officials said Monday.
Since the start of the pandemic, at least 325 capital city residents have died, the county says.
Yolo County has reported 4,930 total lab-confirmed cases during the pandemic, adding 37 on Tuesday. The county set a single-day record last Wednesday with 114.
At least 77 Yolo residents have died of COVID-19 to date, including one new fatality reported Monday. Forty-five of those deaths have been linked to skilled nursing or assisted living facilities, mainly in Woodland.
Yolo reached a new record of 21 virus patients in hospitals with confirmed cases Monday, with eight in ICUs; those fell to 18 hospitalized and seven in intensive care by Tuesday.
Placer County has reported 6,622 cases, reporting 268 new cases Monday evening for a period including the weekend, following 130 for Thanksgiving and Friday. That’s an average of 80 new daily cases during that five-day span.
The countywide death toll has increased to 70, with two new fatalities added in Monday’s update.
Placer’s spike in hospitalized cases continues to break records on essentially a daily basis, hitting triple-digits for the first time early last week. The county as of Monday reported having 129 patients in hospital beds with confirmed coronavirus, 106 of them (82%) in hospitals specifically “because of COVID.” The county says 14 were in ICUs, all of them being treated specifically for the disease.
State data, which varies slightly from the county’s own numbers, on Monday showed 131 hospitalized with the same ICU total of 14. The state makes no distinction between patients in hospital beds who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those admitted specifically for the disease.
El Dorado County is one of a few California counties with a single-digit death toll, with just four fatalities since the start of the pandemic. But new cases are coming at an accelerated pace and hospitalizations are rising fast as well.
County health officials added 35 new cases Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total to 2,546. El Dorado reported 231 new cases covering the weekend and Monday and 185 cases Friday for the two-day period including Thanksgiving.
El Dorado had 15 hospitalized COVID-19 patients as of Tuesday, down one from the previous day, with three patients in ICUs.
Sutter County health officials have reported a total of 3,637 people positive for the coronavirus and 19 deaths, including two fatalities Tuesday.
The county added 70 new cases Tuesday and a record-smashing 168 on Monday.
Yuba County has reported a total of 2,221 COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths. Yuba added 65 cases Tuesday and 70 on Monday.
Sutter and Yuba, sister counties that share a public health office and have just one general acute hospital between them, have seen their COVID-19 patient total skyrocket: from two patients on Nov. 7 to 48 by the end of November — 30 Sutter residents and 18 Yuba residents, the local health office says. Six in each group are in ICUs.
According to state data updated Tuesday, Rideout in Marysville was treating 40 virus patients, including nine in ICUs. Two staffed ICU bed remain available.
World death toll approaches 1.5 million
More than 63.7 million people have now tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide, and at least 1.47 million of them have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. leads the world in both metrics, with 13.7 million lab-confirmed infections and more than 270,000 fatalities reported as of Tuesday afternoon.
Next by death toll are Brazil at over 173,000, India at more than 137,000 and Mexico at about 106,000. Three European nations are next: the United Kingdom at more than 59,000 dead, Italy at over 56,000 and France at nearly 53,000.
After that are Iran at 48,000 fatalities and Spain at just over 45,000. Russia recently surpassed 40,000 deaths. About 39,000 have died in Argentina, followed by nearly 37,000 in Colombia and 36,000 in Peru.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 8:34 AM.
