Coronavirus updates: California COVID rates dropping; lawmakers share school plan
All of California’s coronavirus metrics continue to rapidly trend downward as the state recovers from what officials hope is the final major surge of the pandemic.
Since peaking in the first two weeks of 2021 at an average of nearly 41,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, the state’s case rate has whittled down to just over 8,500 a day in the past two weeks, California Department of Public Health data show.
Test positivity is at 3.8%, down from a high of 14% in early January, for California’s lowest percentage since Nov. 10.
The number of patients hospitalized with confirmed virus cases has plummeted from almost 22,000 in early January to about 7,500 as of Friday’s update from CDPH. The total in intensive care units has dropped from nearly 4,900 to about 2,200 in the same stretch.
And fatalities, always the last indicator to decrease, are declining as well. The two-week daily death rate fell from 542 to 380 in less than three weeks, according to CDPH.
To date, more than 3.4 million Californians have tested positive for the respiratory disease known as COVID-19 and more than 48,000 of them have died, according to CDPH.
The state’s mass vaccination campaign has shown signs of accelerating in recent weeks, with CDPH now reporting a total of nearly 7 million doses injected of the 8.8 million delivered.
But severe winter storms elsewhere in the country have delayed shipments throughout the United States, including California. Officials with Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente on Thursday told The Bee they had to reduce the number of shots they could give this week in Northern California due to delayed deliveries.
Lawmakers introduce school opening plan; Newsom responds
Leading Democrats in the Legislature on Thursday unveiled Senate Bill 86, the “Safe and Open Schools Plan,” which calls for most on-campus K-12 instruction at California public schools to resume by mid-April.
Newsom in a written statement late Thursday said the proposal is “a step in the right direction” but “doesn’t go far enough or fast enough.”
Negotiations over when schools should reopen have stalled. Unions including the California Teachers Association maintain that vaccines must be widely available to educators before campuses reopen.
Newsom has said the state is unlikely to be able to vaccinate all teachers before the end of the current academic year. The continuous evolution of the state’s vaccination priority plan and uncertainties about supply have made it difficult to pinpoint when a significant number of educators may be able to get their shots.
When might improving numbers lead to business reopening?
Gov. Gavin Newsom first issued his stay-at-home order 11 months ago, on March 19 of last year, making California the first in the U.S. to impose restrictions in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Public health guidelines have tightened and loosened in response to changing rates of virus activity since then, but they have never been fully lifted.
As of Friday, 52 counties combining for 99.8% of the state’s 40 million residents are in the strict “purple” tier of business and activity restrictions. Among numerous other rules, restaurants in purple-tier counties are supposed to stay closed for indoor dining, and establishments like movie theaters and gyms are also barred from operating indoors.
Newsom hinted during a news briefing earlier this week that more counties could soon begin departing that classifications, based on the broad improvement observed in infection rates throughout California.
But it’s a tough bar to meet, state data show. Aside from the six counties already in looser tiers, Yolo County was the only one in this Tuesday’s update from CDPH that met both of the main two criteria for promotion into the less-restrictive red tier — a one-week test positivity rate below 8% and a daily average of fewer than seven cases per 100,000 residents.
About three-quarters of California’s counties now meet the test positivity requirement, but 40 of them still had at least 14 daily cases per 100,000, more than double the second requirement.
In the capital region, this includes Sacramento County at 6% positivity and 18.7 cases per 100,000; and El Dorado at 5.4% positivity and 14.7 cases per 100,000. Placer is faring a bit better, reported at 4.8% positivity and 12.7 daily cases per 100,000 in Tuesday’s tier list update.
It takes two consecutive weeks meeting the red tier thresholds to be moved into that tier, meaning Yolo could be promoted as early as Tuesday if its metrics remain low, while other counties won’t be eligible for promotion until March 2 at the earliest, absent a change in the tier framework.
Positive case closes two homeless warming centers
Two homeless warming centers in Sacramento had to close Thursday night after an employee who worked at both of them tested positive for COVID-19.
City officials in a news release said three other workers are also symptomatic, quarantining while they await test results.
The centers are at the Library Galleria and Southside Pool House. Both are being deep cleaned. The city says it will provide an update Friday.
Downtown Sacramento dropped to 37 degrees Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service, which tied for the coldest night in the city since Jan. 26, when it hit 30 degrees.
Sacramento area by the numbers
The six-county Sacramento region — Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties — has reported close to 147,000 combined positive cases and at least 2,062 virus deaths over the course of the pandemic.
Sacramento County has confirmed 91,797 cases and at least 1,431 resident deaths from COVID-19. The county on Thursday reported 404 new cases and 19 deaths, following 249 cases and 10 deaths added Thursday, and 214 cases and 20 deaths Wednesday.
By date of death occurrence, December and January were Sacramento County’s two deadliest months of the pandemic. Health officials have confirmed 384 deaths for December and at least 310 for January. They have also now confirmed 54 resident deaths for Feb. 1 through Valentine’s Day.
Of the 19 deaths reported Friday, 11 occurred in February, one was from December and the remainder were from January.
Prior to December, the county’s deadliest month of the pandemic was August, at 181 virus deaths.
The countywide total for hospitalized virus patients dropped from 204 on Thursday to 201 by Friday, falling from 60 to 56, according to CDPH.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 19,462 infections and 229 deaths. Placer on Thursday reported just five new cases, but increased the death toll by six. The county on Wednesday added 24 cases and no new fatalities.
State data showed 59 virus patients in Placer hospitals as of Friday, down from 63 Thursday, and with the ICU total dropping from 19 to 18. It’s the first time Placer has fallen below 60 hospitalized since Nov. 15.
Yolo County has reported a total of 12,373 cases and 181 deaths. The county reported 52 cases and nine deaths Wednesday, followed by 37 infections and no fatalities in Thursday’s update.
Yolo officials recently noted that deaths are confirmed in groups, meaning there may be no deaths noted for several days and then many confirmed in a day or two.
State data showed Yolo dropping from 11 virus patients in hospitals Thursday to 10 on Friday, while the ICU total holds at six.
El Dorado County has reported 8,984 positive test results and 91 deaths. The county reported just two new cases Thursday following nine added Wednesday. Prior to that, El Dorado reported 118 cases and one death for the four-day reporting window of Saturday through Tuesday.
El Dorado has reported a significant spike in virus deaths compared to the first several months of the health crisis: 87 county residents have died of COVID-19 since Nov. 25, compared to four from last March through mid-November.
State data show El Dorado with six patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19, up one from Thursday, but with the ICU total falling from three to one.
In Sutter County, at least 8,744 people have contracted the virus and 94 have died. Officials reported 22 new cases Thursday along with one death.
Yuba County, which shares a health office with Sutter, has reported 5,661 infections and 36 dead, adding 12 cases in Thursday’s update.
The lone hospital serving the Yuba-Sutter bicounty region — Adventist-Rideout in Marysville — had 26 hospitalized virus patients as of Friday’s state data update, down from 29 the previous three days. The ICU total is at eight.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 7:36 AM.
