Coronavirus updates: California near 30,000 COVID deaths amid post-holiday surge
California’s official coronavirus death toll is closing in on 30,000 — and closing in on it rapidly, as COVID-19 fatalities pour in at their fastest pace yet of the pandemic during the state’s unrelenting surge.
The state reported a record-high 695 deaths Saturday, followed by 468 Sunday and 264 on Monday, driving the two-week total to nearly 5,700. That’s an average of 406 new COVID-19 fatalities per day, more than six times higher than the 14-day window just before Thanksgiving.
The brutal surge of infections, hospitalizations and deaths first took hold in California around early November and it has not let up.
Since Nov. 1, the two-week average for daily new cases has exploded from about 4,300 to nearly 40,000, according to the California Department of Public Health. The percentage of diagnostic tests returning positive has more than quadrupled, from 3.2% to 13.7%.
And the concurrent total for hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 has erupted from 2,500 to nearly 22,000 as of Monday’s state data update, with the number in intensive care units growing from 700 to almost 5,000.
The result is an ongoing hospital crisis consuming vast portions of the state. CDPH has reported San Joaquin Valley and Southern California both at 0% ICU availability for more than three weeks, and some health systems in those regions have been entrenched deeply in what state health chief Dr. Mark Ghaly calls “crisis care” protocols: rationing oxygen, staffing and other resources in response to swarms of COVID-19 patients.
The situation is growing dire in the Bay Area, where ICU availability has plummeted to 0.7%, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Monday news briefing. but is deteriorating in two of the three geographic regions rounding out most of California’s population of 40 million. Greater Sacramento rebounded to 9.7%, up from 6.4% on Friday.
In the capital area, December has already become by far the deadliest month for COVID-19. At least 319 Sacramento County residents died of the virus last month, which is 138 more than the previous worst month of August. Placer County health officials in a report published New Year’s Day said there were at least 40 deaths from Dec. 1 to Dec. 28, breaking November’s record of 24.
Health officials and hospital systems warn that the steeply climbing patient totals — and, in turn, death numbers — will likely continue to climb throughout most or all of January, as cases contracted at or following Christmas and New Year’s Eve gatherings start to end up in hospitals.
To date, California has reported more than 2.7 million lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, with at least 29,965 having died of the disease, according to CDPH.
What’s the latest on vaccine progress?
California remains in Phase 1A of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, meaning shots are still being given to front-line health workers who deal directly with virus patients as well as in skilled nursing facilities.
It’s been an uneven process. Newsom said Monday that about 2.4 million doses have been shipped out to local health departments and hospital systems but only about 783,000 of those shots have been administered so far.
State health officials in the middle of last week stated a goal of administering 1 million vaccines in 10 days. Through Day 4 of the 10-day sprint, California had administered about 295,000 of the 400,000 it would take to stay on the million-shot pace, according to CDPH’s online vaccine tracker.
Two vaccines for COVID-19 — one created by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna — received emergency use authorization in the U.S. in mid-December, with distribution from the federal government to states beginning within days of that clearance.
Both vaccines are two-dose regimens, with Pfizer’s shots to be given three weeks apart and Moderna’s four weeks apart. CDPH notes on its vaccine dashboard that the 2.18 million vaccine doses it has distributed include both first and second doses.
A primary debate in the U.S. has been whether second doses should be held back in reserve for those who’ve received the first, or if we should administer as many first doses as quickly as possible.
The first option is slower but guarantees regimens will remain on schedule; the second effectively doubles the speed of the rollout, but introduces risk in the event that there are problems in the manufacturing or distribution chains for either vaccine.
President-elect Joe Biden reportedly plans to switch the U.S. to the second option, with his administration releasing most withheld doses soon after he takes office next week, CNN first reported Friday.
Prior to that news breaking, Newsom also expressed support for giving as many first doses as possible.
“For many of us, all of us, I think, want to see 100% of what’s received immediately administered in people’s arms,” Newsom said in a news conference early last week.
Hospital leaders ask Newsom to suspend some regulations
Hospital leaders late last week urged Newsom to temporarily suspend some regulatory requirements in order to allow doctors and nurses to focus more on patient care, with critical care nurses in short supply across the U.S.
“The moment that we find ourselves in now is standing on that beach, watching that tsunami come at us,” Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, said in a Friday teleconference. “We have more people than we will be able to care for under normal circumstances, but if we don’t flex some of these requirements, it means that people will not get the care they need and worse, people may die.”
Among the rule changes being sought are lifting some restrictions on what can and can’t be built or moved or placed in a room, as well as allowing nurses to work in teams, Coyle said.
“It’s about maximizing space, maximizing staff resources, beginning to cross-train and provide nursing care in different ways,” she said.
Capital region numbers: Sacramento County reaches 1,000 dead
The six counties that make up the bulk of the 13-county Greater Sacramento region — Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties — have reported more than 117,000 combined positive cases and recorded at least 1,429 virus deaths as of Monday.
Sacramento County has confirmed 74,101 cases since the onset of the pandemic, and at least 1,015 of those residents have died of COVID-19. The county reached the 1,000-death milestone in Monday’s update, reporting 38 new deaths for the three-day reporting period including the weekend.
The county reported a single-day high of 24 new, confirmed deaths last Wednesday.
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 319 deaths for the month — an average of more than 10 day. The total is still growing as death confirmations are made official, mostly from the second half of the month.
Virus hospitalizations in Sacramento County have fluctuated some but have held relatively stable, while ICU cases remained mostly on an incline. The overall patient total was at 485 as of Monday, including a record-tying 115 in ICUs, state data show. The available ICU bed total increased by 12 compared to Sunday, though, from 70 to 82.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 15,454 infections and 159 deaths, reporting a record-high 17 deaths Friday following 10 on Thursday.
State data show Placer’s hospitalized total declining from a peak of 216 near the end of 2020, hovering near 180 since shortly after New Year’s Day. Placer’s ICU patient count set a new record high at 32 on Monday, up from 30 on Sunday. The state reports just four ICU beds left available in Placer, down from 23 one week earlier.
Yolo County has reported a total of 9,291 cases and 127 deaths, adding one new death Friday.
State data on Monday showed Yolo with 32 virus patients in hospital beds, one fewer than the previous day’s record-high 33 but with the ICU total growing from 13 to 14. The state reports 16 ICU beds available in Yolo County. Yolo’s local dashboard in recent updates has shown lower available bed counts than the state, last reported at six in a Sunday update.
El Dorado County has reported 6,642 positive test results and 33 deaths, last updated Friday with 181 new cases and no deaths following 69 cases and two new deaths Thursday. The county also reported two deaths last Tuesday and four on Wednesday, for eight total last week.
Following just four deaths from March through mid-November, at least 29 El Dorado residents died of COVID-19 between Nov. 25 and New Year’s Day, county officials report.
State health officials report a record-high 46 virus patients in El Dorado as of Monday, breaking the previous mark of 40 set last Wednesday. The total in ICU beds fell to eight, with eight additional ICU beds remaining available.
In Sutter County, at least 7,018 people have contracted the virus and 70 have died. The county added 97 cases and one death Friday following 63 infections and three deaths Thursday.
Sutter as of Friday dropped slightly to 51 residents hospitalized with COVID-19, down from a record-high 58 on Wednesday. Ten were in intensive care, down from 12.
Neighboring Yuba County has reported 4,440 infections and 25 dead, last updated with 59 new cases Friday following 87 new cases and one new death Thursday. The county also added one death last Wednesday, following two reported Tuesday.
Yuba said Friday it had 35 residents hospitalized with the virus, remaining at a record-high set Thursday, with six still 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 56 hospitalized virus patients as of Monday’s state data update, the same as Sunday but with ICU patients increasing from 12 to 14. Only two ICU beds are now available, down from five on Sunday.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 7:53 AM.
