Coronavirus updates: COVID-19 deaths soar in California; Trump wants $2,000 checks
California’s coronavirus emergency continues to cast a dark shadow on the week of Christmas, with hospitals overwhelmed by patients and COVID-19 deaths being reported at as fast a pace as ever in the state.
State health officials have reported 3,041 COVID-19 deaths in the past two weeks — an average of more than 217 a day, which is more than quadruple the rate from one month earlier. California reported 361 new deaths Wednesday, its second-highest daily increase of the pandemic.
Hospitals statewide were treating nearly 18,500 confirmed virus patients as of Wednesday, a record high that has ballooned every day for more than three weeks. More than 3,800 of those patients are in intensive care units, up from 2,000 at the start of December. The hospital metrics essentially guarantee COVID-19 death tolls will remain elevated for at least a few more weeks.
“We are at or near capacity everywhere,” Greg Adams, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, said earlier this week. “As the bed count continues to dwindle, we simply will not be able to keep up if the COVID-19 surge continues to increase.”
Some recent developments have been particularly morbid. Fresno County is bringing in refrigerated trailer units to provide extra morgue space for COVID-19 victims. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said the state has ordered extra body bags for Southern California. Hospitals in some of the state’s most populated regions, including Los Angeles County, are running so slim on intensive care unit availability that there have increasingly been talks of rationing medical care — a dire last resort that’s evocative of wartime.
The California Department of Public Health reported the state’s aggregate ICU availability at 1.1% as of Wednesday, with that metric at 0% in both the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The 13-county Greater Sacramento region has fluctuated near 15%, most recently reported at 15.6%. The Bay Area was at 11.4%.
Those four regions, which combine for 98% of California’s 40 million residents, are all subject to the regional stay-at-home order that Newsom announced earlier this month. Only the North State, where about 685,000 people live, has avoided the order, with that region near 29% availability on Wednesday.
The order includes the tightest restrictions introduced since March: restaurants must close indoor and outdoor dining, personal care services like hair salons have been shut down and capacity limits have been set for retail stores.
The orders kick in for all counties in a region once the area falls below 15% ICU capacity, and it stays in place for at least three weeks, at which point CDPH will reassess the situation. Newsom suggested in a Monday news conference that the order will likely be extended; it’s a virtual certainty for the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions.
California’s vicious surge started around early November and intensified following Thanksgiving, with officials again concerned that Christmas celebrations could lead to another spike if too many people gather in large numbers indoors and without paying mind to social distancing or mask protocols.
To date, California has reported more than 1.96 million lab-positive cases of the coronavirus and 23,284 deaths, according to CDPH. Having recently averaged nearly 40,000 new cases per day, California is very likely to reach the 2 million case milestone either Christmas Eve or Christmas.
Vaccines, already being distributed in limited supply to at-risk groups in California since the start of last week, offer a glimmer of hope in the medium and long terms. Both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines have shown about 95% effectiveness in clinical trials, an extremely promising figure that could slash death and hospitalization figures even just from the shots administered at skilled nursing facilities and to vulnerable health care workers.
But the vaccine doesn’t give any help to those currently battling the disease. More than half a million Californians have tested positive for COVID-19 in just the past two weeks. And because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine each take a couple of weeks post-shot for protection to begin, it’ll likely take until well into January before any vaccine-related declines in hospitalizations or deaths among elderly populations start showing up in the data.
Californians still moving around a lot, cellphone data show
Even with much stricter business shutdowns in place, Californians have been traveling to workplaces, stores and restaurants in December at only a slightly lower frequency than they did from June through November, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of data collected by Google from cell phones.
Visits to those locations were down a bit in mid-December, but nowhere near the low rates in the weeks from late March through the end of May, in the weeks following the state’s initial stay-at-home order being issued.
Dr. Brad Pollock, associate dean for Public Health Sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine, told The Bee that phone data alone isn’t enough to determine if the recent regional stay-at-home order is effective. It will still take a few more weeks of COVID-19 case and hospital data to accurately judge how the new order is impacting spread of the virus.
$2,000 stimulus checks?
Congress reached a deal on a $900 billion stimulus package earlier this week, approved by both houses with bipartisan support. The legislation included $600 direct payments for most Americans.
President Donald Trump, who’d been expected to sign the bill, tweeted a video Tuesday night calling on lawmakers to increase those payments from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples.
Trump suggested he may not sign the legislation otherwise, though he did not specifically say he would veto the bill. If Trump were to veto the bill, Congress could override the veto.
Several key Democrats were quick to signal support for the $2,000 checks.
“At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, tweeted Tuesday evening. “Let’s do it!”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom threw his support behind the Republican president’s proposal.
“... We’d love to see $2,000. I appreciate Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi being willing to take the president at his word,” Newsom said Wednesday.
Tahoe-area officials ask Airbnb to help curb vacation rentals
City and county leaders in the Tahoe area sent a letter this week to Airbnb, asking the company to inform property owners that bookings for non-essential travel are in violation of California’s stay-at-home order.
“In addition, Placer County and the Town of Truckee are looking at options to penalize (short-term rental) operators who rent their properties during this time,” reads the letter, sent by county supervisors in Placer and El Dorado as well as Truckee’s town manager.
The pandemic has brought a unique form of economic turmoil to the travel and tourism industries. Lake Tahoe is typically a major destination during the summer for Californians looking to escape the heat, and its many surrounding ski resorts are a hub in winter.
At one point back in the spring, local tourism bureaus took the remarkable step of actually discouraging visitors.
Sacramento area: Infection toll fast approaching 100,000
The six-county Sacramento area made up of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties has combined for more than 92,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 1,089 deaths to date.
Sacramento County has reported a total of 58,869 infections since the onset of the pandemic and 797 resident deaths from COVID-19. The local health office on Wednesday reported 868 new cases and increased the death toll by 11, following increases of 919 and 12 on Tuesday.
The countywide total for hospitalized virus patients jumped to 518 on Wednesday, up from an even 500 patients on Tuesday for another all-time high. The ICU total went from 104 to 103, with available ICU beds rising by six, from 68 to 74.
By date of death occurrence, the county now reports at least 123 virus fatalities have come in the first 18 days of December. That preliminary figure puts the month well on track to surpass August’s 181 to become the deadliest month of the pandemic. At least 143 died in November.
The two deadliest days of the health crisis, locally, have come this month: 17 infected residents died Dec. 7 and 16 on Dec. 10, county data show.
At least 439 residents of the city of Sacramento have died, according to the county health office. Nearly 32,000 have tested positive — more than one in every 16 people living within city limits.
Placer County health officials have reported a total of 11,968 infections and 110 deaths. The county on Wednesday added 207 new cases and one fatality, after adding 220 cases and five deaths Tuesday.
State data showed 185 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Placer hospitals as of Wednesday, up 10 from Tuesday. The county had 25 in ICU beds, down two from Tuesday, with 20 ICU beds available.
Yolo County has reported a total of 7,340 infections and 108 deaths, adding 103 cases to the tally in Wednesday’s update. On Tuesday the county reported four deaths.
As of Wednesday, Yolo had 25 virus patients hospitalized including 11 in ICUs, compared to 24 patients and 12 in ICUs on Tuesday. Available ICU beds held at five.
El Dorado County has reported 4,958 positive test results and 12 deaths. The county health office added 81 cases and two deaths Tuesday.
On Monday, 465 new cases and two deaths were reported for a four-day stretch beginning Friday.
Health officials said Wednesday that 26 people were hospitalized with the virus in El Dorado, up five since Monday. The ICU total remains at five patients. State data showed eight ICU beds available in the county.
In Sutter County, at least 5,863 people have been infected and 46 have died. The county reported 325 new cases and two new deaths Monday, for an update covering the weekend, followed by 89 cases and one fatality Tuesday.
The bi-county health office reported 45 Sutter residents were hospitalized with the virus as of Tuesday, including five in the ICU, both counts the same as Monday.
Neighboring Yuba County has reported 3,492 infections and 16 deaths, reporting 70 new cases and one new death on Tuesday. Yuba added 162 new cases but no new deaths over the weekend. At least 25 Yuba residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, including five in intensive care.
Not all of those Yuba-Sutter residents were hospitalized in-county. Adventist-Rideout, the lone hospital serving the bi-county region, as of Wednesday’s state data update was treating 63 virus patients, including nine in ICUs. Rideout had zero ICU beds left available in Monday’s update, but remaining capacity increased to four beds as of Wednesday, state data show.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 8:06 AM.
