Coronavirus updates: Deaths surge in Sacramento region, state updates travel restrictions
Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths are already hitting staggering highs in California, with it still too early for either Christmas or New Year’s Eve celebrations to be a significant factor in either figure.
And in the past two weeks, 4,410 Californians have died of the disease for an average of 315 per day, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The state started reported 583 new deaths Thursday, two shy of the record-high 585 reported on New Year’s Day. But that 585 figure included a large holiday-linked backlog from Los Angeles County. Wednesday’s figure was anchored by 257 new Los Angeles deaths, which county health officials did not link to a backlog.
The state in Thursday’s update breached 28,000 confirmed virus deaths and 2.5 million lab-positive cases of COVID-19, according to the CDPH.
More than 14% of diagnostic tests conducted in the past week have returned positive, and the moving two-week average hit 12.9% for its highest reading since early spring, when testing infrastructure was in its infancy.
Four of California’s five geographic regions, all but the far northern reaches of the state, fell below the 15% ICU availability threshold weeks ago, triggering tight stay-at-home restrictions that include the closure of outdoor restaurant dining, as announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom in early December.
Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley have both had reported aggregate ICU availability of 0% for more than two weeks.
Some hospitals and health systems in those vast regions have been plunged into catastrophe. Los Angeles County emergency leaders in a Monday memo effectively directed paramedics not to transport some patients with low chance of survival, and in a separate memo the same day laid out guidelines for limiting supplemental oxygen use.
“Many hospitals have reached a point of crisis and are having to make very tough decisions about patient care,” county health services director Dr. Christina Ghaly said Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Officials in California’s three other geographic regions had varying levels of ICU availability remaining as of the middle of this week: the Bay Area’s has diminished below 4%, Greater Sacramento has fallen to 9% and Northern California region north of Greater Sacramento is at 25%.
The state reported the Bay Area at 3.5% availability, the fullest ICUs have been in that region in the month since the regional stay-at-home order was introduced.
While Greater Sacramento fluctuated near but mostly above the 15% mark for a few weeks, it has been below it since the start of 2021, dipping to about 7% around New Year’s Day, according to daily updates from CDPH.
Public health, hospital and government leaders are gravely concerned that the combined impacts of Christmas and New Year’s Eve could bring a massive wave in cases and hospitalizations starting right about now and lasting through most or all of January, perhaps longer.
Updated advisory: Don’t travel more than 120 miles, state says
CDPH on Wednesday posted updated guidelines outlining the COVID-19 risk associated with traveling, expanding on and superseding an advisory sent on Nov. 13 with two main updates.
First, the new guidelines shorten the self-quarantine period from 14 to 10 days for non-essential out-of-state travelers, consistent with more recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. Non-essential travelers are still “strongly discouraging” from entering California.
Second, the update says Californians should limit non-essential travel to a maximum of 120 miles from home within the state in addition to avoiding other states or countries.
The advisory was tightened at least in part due to the new variant of the virus recently confirmed in California.
“Avoiding travel reduces the risk of virus transmission, including by reducing the risk that new sources of infection and, potentially, new virus strains will be introduced to California,” the CDPH advisory said.
Though phrased strongly, the advisory is voluntary, not a mandate.
Deaths, ICU cases rising fast in capital area
While the state’s havoc has been most heavily concentrated in Southern California — especially Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the U.S. at 10 million residents — there are very troubling developments unfolding in the Sacramento area.
Sacramento County’s public health office Wednesday confirmed 24 COVID-19 deaths, the most disclosed in any day not immediately following a weekend or holiday, followed by 14 more Thursday.
While some were death confirmations for earlier in that month, 25 of the 38 newly reported deaths occurred from Dec. 22 through Dec. 27, bringing the toll for that six-day window up to 50, local health data on the county’s online COVID-19 dashboard show.
That stretch, which includes Christmas, falls four weeks after the week of Thanksgiving, a holiday to which officials like public health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye have pointed as a very likely booster of infection and hospitalization surges in December.
The countywide death toll for COVID-19 is now at 955, with 278 — 29% of the 10-month total — coming in December, with more confirmations for the month still to come. The month has already surpassed the previous worst, August (181), by nearly 100 deaths.
There’s good reason to believe January will be even deadlier, perhaps much deadlier. The county of 1.5 million people living in and near the state’s capital started 2021 with 109 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, which soared to an all-time high of 118 as of Wednesday’s state data update.
By comparison, Sacramento County started December with 77 virus patients in ICUs and, in the continuing wake of Thanksgiving, it shot up by dozens to 110 within the next 17 days.
Though by far its most populous, the county is not alone within the Sacramento area. Deadly crises are playing out in fast-motion around the region.
Sutter County, which state health officials in several recent weeks have reported as having either the highest or nearly the highest test positivity rate among all 58 counties at over 20%, recorded two resident deaths Monday, a record-high eight on Tuesday and four more Wednesday. That’s 14 of its 66 confirmed deaths — more than one-fifth of its 10-month total — reported in the past three days.
The only general acute hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist-Rideout in Marysville, each day since the day after Christmas has had a dozen or more COVID-19 patients in the ICU with two or fewer ICU beds remaining available. The hospital for weeks has enlisted the help of California National Guard personnel to volunteer in its overtaxed emergency department, a spokesperson confirmed last week.
El Dorado County, which fared much better than its comparably sized neighbors for most of the pandemic, reported just four total coronavirus deaths from March through mid-November.
Then, the tide turned: at least 27 El Dorado residents died of the respiratory disease between Thanksgiving and the end of 2020. And on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the mostly rural county hit new records for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, going from 35 to 38 to 40, state data show.
Nevada County in the foothills made it from March through November with nine reported COVID-19 deaths — and then in December, it reported 41 fatalities.
Troubling numbers are amassing across all of the most populous counties within the 13-county Greater Sacramento region. Butte, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo and the Yuba-Sutter bi-county region have all broken or tied their all-time daily highs for ICU patients within the past week, according to state and local health departments.
Planned ‘Re-Open’ conference sparks furor
Alongside outrage leveled at private parties on New Year’s Eve that flouted pandemic restrictions, a planned three-day conference this coming weekend involving elected officials, law enforcement leaders, lobbyists and others is drawing the ire of Sacramento’s top public health official.
A group referring to itself as “Re-Open Cal Now” plans panel discussions at Murieta Equestrian Center in Sacramento County this weekend, along with a rally at the Capitol.
Kasirye, the county health officer, immediately rebuked the event.
“This three-day, in-person conference, scheduled to take place in Sacramento County, is in violation of state and local health orders and has the potential to become a super-spreader event,” she said in a prepared statement. “This is exceedingly troubling as we are experiencing an unprecedented number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
“Not only does this put the event attendees at risk, it puts the conference venue employees at risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to their families.”
Sue Frost, a Sacramento County supervisor, is among the event’s co-organizers.
And Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who has been a vocal critic of California’s stay-at-home order, is scheduled to headline a panel discussion at the conference Saturday morning.
Six-county Sacramento area surpasses 1,300 deaths
The six counties that make up the bulk of Greater Sacramento — Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties — have recorded about 112,000 combined positive cases and recorded at least 1,333 deaths through Wednesday, just several days after the death toll rolled past 1,200.
Sacramento County has reported a total of 71,062 infections since the onset of the pandemic, and at least 955 of those residents have died of COVID-19.
The county on Wednesday confirmed 24 new confirmed deaths, the most disclosed in any single-day reporting period, along with 834 new cases. Officials added another 14 deaths and 676 cases Thursday. One week in, county health officials have disclosed 98 resident fatalities in 2021.
By date of death occurrence, December has blown past August as Sacramento County’s deadliest month of the pandemic. County health officials now report a staggering 278 deaths for the month — an average of about nine a day.
The total is still growing as deaths are confirmed from throughout the month; most of the 24 reported Wednesday came in the final week of December, but nine of them occurred between Dec. 7 and Dec. 18, according to the local health office’s tallies. All of Thursday’s 14 came from the second half of December.
At least nine Sacramento residents died of the coronavirus on Christmas.
Virus hospitalizations in Sacramento County have fluctuated recently. The total in hospital beds shot from 465 on Tuesday to 509 on Wednesday, then slipped to 499 Thursday.
ICU patients hit an all-time high of 118 Wednesday, up from 102 Tuesday, before dipping slightly to 115 in Thursday’s update. The available ICU bed total sank to 66 by Thursday, the third-lowest count for of any day in the pandemic.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 15,015 infections and 142 deaths, reporting 10 new deaths on Thursday after two days with reported deaths. The county adding 215 new cases on Wednesday and 218 on Thursday. Placer on Monday added 932 cases and seven fatalities for the four-day reporting period including New Year’s Day.
State data show Placer’s hospitalized total staying mostly steady, moving from 180 Wednesday to 181 on Thursday, down from a record 216 at the end of 2020. ICU patients reached an all-time high 31 on Monday, since recovering to 27. But the state reportsed just 17 ICU beds left available in Placer, up one compared to Tuesday.
Yolo County has reported a total of 8,835 cases and 125 deaths, adding 154 new cases and two deaths Wednesday. The county added 281 cases and six deaths Tuesday following no update Monday due to a database issue.
State data from Thursday showed Yolo remaining at 30 virus patients in hospital beds, tied with Wednesday for a record-high, including 11 in intensive care, up one from Wednesday. The state continues to report 16 ICU beds available in Yolo County.
El Dorado County has reported 6,216 positive test results and 31 deaths, updated Wednesday with 176 new cases and four fatalities. The county also added 121 cases Tuesday, as well as three deaths. El Dorado officials on Monday added 376 cases and no fatalities for the four-day window including New Year’s Day.
Following just four deaths from March through mid-November, at least 27 El Dorado residents died of COVID-19 between Nov. 25 and the end of the year, county officials report.
State and local health officials both reported 40 hospitalized virus patients in El Dorado on Wednesday, breaking a record for the third consecutive day. That fell by one to 39 hospitalized by Thursday, with the reported total in ICUs dropping from 12 to 10. However, the number of available ICU beds shrank from six to three, as hospitals deal with fluctuating numbers for other types of patients.
In Sutter County, at least 6,797 people have contracted the virus and 66 have died. The county added 62 cases and reported four deaths Wednesday following a record-high eight deaths Tuesday.
Sutter on Wednesday remained at a record-high 58 residents hospitalized with COVID-19 for the second straight day, with 12 now in intensive care.
Neighboring Yuba County has reported 4,294 infections and 24 dead, reporting 74 new cases and one new death Wednesday following two deaths reported Tuesday.
Yuba said Wednesday it had 30 residents hospitalized with the virus, new record, including six in ICUs.
Not all patients are necessarily hospitalized in-county, but the only hospital serving the Yuba-Sutter bi-county region — Adventist-Rideout in Marysville — had its hospitalized patient total drop from 71 reported Wednesday to 65 by Thursday, with ICU patients dropping from 15 to 13. Four ICU beds are now available, up from one on Wednesday.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 8:31 AM.
