Coronavirus updates: Newsom fears hospitalizations could double in the next month

It’s Christmas Day in Sacramento, much anticipated by health officials who have continuously warned against family gatherings and travel during the holiday season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

California is still reeling from the effects of Thanksgiving, as coronavirus infection rates skyrocket throughout the state.

According to the California Department of Public Health, the state officially hit 2 million total cases of COVID-19 on Christmas Eve, and Gov. Gavin Newsom fears rapid increases in infections if behavior doesn’t change.

“We’re projecting that our hospital number will double in just the next 30 days, and our projections have gotten much more solid,” Newsom said in a video recorded while in another quarantine for a second potential exposure to the virus. “I fear that, but we’re not victims to that if we change our behaviors.”

The Associated Press reported that the first officially recognized case of COVID-19 in California was confirmed on Jan. 25, and state reached the million mark Nov. 11. But in only 44 days, the number doubled, reflecting the dire situation in the state.

Per a Friday update, the CDPH reported 2,072,665 infections statewide, and 23,983 deaths due to the virus overall.

Many hospitals across the state, slammed by the winter surge, are at or near capacity. More than 18,900 people are spent the holiday in the hospital, and of those, more than 4,000 are being treated in intensive care units.

In mid-October, fewer than 700 patients were in the hospital for coronavirus treatment, and that number has been on the rise since then.

Both Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley regions have hit maximum ICU capacity, according to the CDPH. Greater Sacramento has 16.9% ICU capacity available, which means the region could potentially withdraw from the latest set of economic restrictions by Dec. 31.

The Bay Area has 11.3% of its ICU beds open, while Northern California, thus far the only region not under the tightest restrictions — which put a ban on in-person dining, among other things — has an ICU capacity of 33.9%.

Over all of California, 1,302 ICU beds are still available. In mid-October, more than 3,000 beds were open. If Newsom’s fears of doubling hospitalizations are warranted, California could be in a serious hospital crunch in the coming weeks.

“In most hospitals about half of all of the beds are filled with COVID patients and half of all the ICU beds are filled with COVID patients, and two-thirds of these patients are suffocating due to the inflammation that’s in their lungs that’s caused by the virus,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, told the Associated Press. “They’re suffocating to the point that they can no longer breathe on their own, and they have to have someone put a tube down their throat, in order to oxygenate their organs. Many of these people will not live to be in 2021.”

Los Angeles County has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, accounting for more than 665,000 of the state’s infection total.

Worldwide, the infection total just tipped over the precipice of 80 million cases, with nearly 18.9 million in the U.S. alone, according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 1.75 million people have died of COVID-19 globally, 331,000 of whom lived in the US.

Tribal Casinos open, despite CA rules

Native American casinos continue to operate through California’s latest stay-at-home orders, being exempted from state guidelines due to their special status within sovereign tribal territory.

The decision to stay open by the tribal casinos prompted criticism from the California Gaming Association, which represents licensed cardrooms in the state which are, of course, subject to state health guidelines.

In a recent statement, the CGA took aim at “Cache Creek’s promotion of its private New Year’s Eve party and other tone-deaf efforts by tribal casinos to profit from COVID-19.”

Cache Creek Casino, which like other tribal casinos in the region, is still open with modifications. It is holding a private New Year’s Eve party from midnight to 6 a.m.

“With ICUs at capacity across the state, restaurants, family amusement centers, theme parks, entertainment venues, cardrooms and thousands of California businesses have been required to close, putting millions of Californians out of work during the holidays. Yet tribal casinos continue to encourage crowds to gather indoors without any state oversight of their health and safety practices,” CGA president Kyle Kirkland said in a prepared statement. “Multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 have been traced to tribal casinos, but tribes are focused on one thing only — profits at all costs, even over the lives of Californians, including their own members.”

Local COVID-19 data

Sacramento County has reported a total of 59,770 infections since the onset of the pandemic, and 809 people have died of COVID-19. As in the rest of the state, the infection rate has been rapidly rising.

County health officials reported 901 additional cases and 12 deaths Thursday, and in the past week, more than 6,500 new cases and 82 deaths have been reported. Over summer, the county never surpassed triple-digit infections in a single day. The highest daily infection increase then was a mere 403 on July 20. Availability of local ICU beds has been on a slow, but steady downward spiral.

Sacramento County has 75 ICU beds available, down from an average closer to 100 earlier in the fall and in late summer, but up from 70 last week. Across the county, 512 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, 101 of whom are being treated in ICUs. The county’s most recent weekly average test positivity rate is 10.2%, compared to the state’s overall test positivity rate of 13.3%.

Yolo County has reported a total of 7,501 infections, 160 of which were reported on Thursday, and 109 deaths. One death was reported Thursday.

In the past week 952 new infections and 10 more deaths were added to the tally.

The county’s most recent weekly test positivity rate is 13.61%, which has risen from less than 4% at the start of October. As of Friday, Yolo County has just three ICU beds available, with 12 patients already being treated for the virus in ICUs. In all, 27 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Placer County health officials have reported a total of 12,262 infections and 120 deaths. In the past week, more than 1,700 new infections have been reported, along with 22 deaths. On Thursday, 294 infections were reported.

Over summer, the highest daily infection total was just 68, on July 27. Health officials say nearly 8,700 of the people with reported infections are likely recovered, which means there are over 3,000 people in Placer County currently sick with coronavirus.

Recent data indicates a weekly positivity rate of 12.6%. Since late September, the average per capita infection rate has soared. For every 100,000 county residents, just over three had coronavirus as of Sept. 25. As of Dec. 15, the most recent data point available, that number is more than 54. Currently, 193 people are in Placer County hospitals with COVID-19 and 27 are in ICUs. The county has 21 ICU beds available.

El Dorado County has reported 5,095 positive test results and 13 deaths. In the last week, more than 683 new cases have been confirmed. For a long stretch of time, COVID-19 deaths were not frequently occurring in El Dorado County, but in the last week, five people were reported dead. The current test positivity rate is 11.5% and the county is also averaging 784 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people. Health officials say 27 people are hospitalized with the virus, five of them in ICUs. State data shows seven ICU beds available in El Dorado County.

In Sutter County, 6,037 people have been infected and 46 have died. Of those, 109 were confirmed infected Thursday. In the past week, four deaths have been reported and nearly 700 infections have been tallied. Fifty-one people are currently hospitalized.

Neighboring Yuba County has reported 3,628 infections and 17 dead, with 74 new infections on Thursday. In the past week, nearly 850 new infections and three deaths have been reported. Its daily infection record was broken on Dec. 17, when 89 people were confirmed to have coronavirus. On Dec. 6, 87 people were confirmed infected. Eighteen people are currently in the hospital. Twenty-seven people are currently hospitalized.

The test positivity rate in Sutter County is 23.7%, and it has reported 86.6 coronavirus patients for every 100,000 people. Yuba County’s test positivity rate is 18.9% and it has 68.1 coronavirus-positive residents for every 100,000 residents.

This story was originally published December 25, 2020 at 11:14 AM.