COVID updates: California expects record hospital tally; schools pause some activities
California again set new all-time records for COVID-19 transmission Tuesday, as state leaders and health officials brace for the omicron variant to produce one of the most brutal stretches of the coronavirus pandemic.
The California Department of Public Health in a daily update reported more than 143,000 new cases, pushing the state’s seven-day average to nearly 67,000 cases (166 per 100,000 residents), an all-time high. CDPH reported test positivity at 22.4%, also a record.
The state also surpassed 6 million lab-confirmed infections for the entire pandemic, the update showed.
The state had 11,815 COVID-positive patients in hospital beds Monday, CDPH said Tuesday. The count has increased by between 350 and 825 patients each of the past 15 days, state data show, as the pace of new admissions far exceeds releases.
The state had about 6,200 hospitalized with the virus on New Year’s Day. More than 1,800 are now in intensive care units, up from 1,200 on Jan. 1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said state health officials expect California to reach record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations by early February, breaking the record of 21,983 patients set in January 2021. California has about 74,000 licensed hospital beds.
According to Newsom, state data show about 4.5% of those infected with omicron end up hospitalized, which is a smaller proportion than with the delta variant. But with California’s case rate already extremely high and still climbing, the volume of patients may put “tremendous strain on our hospital system,” Newsom said.
Unions, Newsom react to rules for asymptomatic health workers
Over the weekend, CDPH in a letter to hospitals and skilled nursing homes statewide said health care personnel who test positive for or are exposed to COVID-19 but are asymptomatic can return to work immediately, without any quarantine or isolation period.
State health officials called it a necessary step to address serious staff shortages at hospitals. The guidance lasts through Feb. 1.
The decision drew immediate condemnation from unions representing health care workers, who say the rule will prove dangerous for both health care personnel and patients.
“We want to care for our patients and see them get better – not potentially infect them,” said Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse and president of the California Nurses Association. “Sending nurses and other health care workers back to work while infected is dangerous. If we get sick, who will be left to care for our patients and community?”
Asked about the guidance during a Monday news conference unveiling his 2022-23 budget plan, Newsom responded: “It’s called dealing with reality.”
The governor said California has also contracted 2,250 workers to supplement hospital staff across the state and looks to add more in the coming weeks.
Officials with UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanente in responses to The Sacramento Bee on Monday said they were still reviewing the new guidance. Dignity Health officials said they “may need to adopt this approach in the coming days and weeks” depending on staff shortages. Sutter Health did not reply.
Outbreaks reported at nursing homes
Fifty-seven of the state’s more than 1,200 skilled nursing facilities had at least 11 active COVID-19 cases among residents as of Sunday, and more than 250 facilities had at least 11 active employee infections, according to a CDPH data dashboard.
Most of the recent resident outbreaks have come at facilities in Southern California and the Bay Area.
Sacramento-area skilled nursing outbreaks include The Pines at Placerville, a 99-bed facility in El Dorado County, which on its website reported having 32 residents with COVID-19 in its coronavirus isolation unit as of Sunday plus 12 staff members testing positive in the past month; and 205-bed Westview Healthcare Center in Auburn, which had 19 COVID-positive residents in isolation Sunday and has had 30 employees test positive in the past month.
Across all facilities statewide, the seven-day average for cases among skilled nursing residents has increased from 38 cases the week ending Dec. 26 to 137 the week of Jan. 2 and 234 the week of Jan. 6.
The case rate at skilled nursing homes has already grown nearly six times higher than the peak of summer’s delta variant surge, which topped out at about 40 statewide cases per day.
Sacramento City Unified pauses some activities
The Sacramento City Unified School District announced late Monday in an email to families that it was temporarily pausing some extracurricular activities. Those include field trips; activities “that are not part of a structured group or cohort” such as dances, rallies and food fairs; and “non-essential tournaments,” including those competitions that are not part of a playoff.
However, activities where defined cohorts of students take part can continue. Those include athletics, band and orchestra, and “other club activities,” according to the email.
The district on its COVID-19 dashboard reported 322 active cases on Tuesday morning.
The San Juan Unified School District has 1,838 total student cases; that’s a jump of roughly 1,300 cases since a week ago. Elk Grove Unified is reporting 237 active cases and a case rate of 108 per 100,000.
Los Rios Community College District to start virtually
The Los Rios Community College District announced Monday it will begin the spring semester with most classes held remotely due to “skyrocketing” COVID-19 cases in the Sacramento region, joining most of the state’s public universities in doing so.
American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College and Sacramento City College will all go to remote learning when the semester starts Jan. 15 and stay on a virtual basis through at least Jan. 31.
A limited number of career education programs that can’t be conducted online will continue to be held in-person, district officials said.
Los Rios since October has required full vaccination to attend classes in-person, and officials on Monday said they expect the district to require booster shots within the next few weeks.
Latest Sacramento-area numbers
Sacramento County has recorded 200,704 total lab-confirmed cases and 2,574 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to local health officials.
The county on Tuesday added close to 3,000 new confirmed cases, increasing the daily case rate to 166 per 100,000 residents, an all-time record. The case rate is nearly triple the pre-omicron record of 64 per 100,000 from December 2020.
According to CDPH, Sacramento County’s latest test positivity rate is 23.5%.
County hospitals were treating 464 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as of Monday, up from 276 one week earlier. The ICU total increased to 89 from 57.
Placer County has tallied 45,741 cases and 498 virus deaths to date, last updated Monday.
Local health officials last reported the daily case rate at 51.9 per 100,000 for the week ending Dec. 29.
Placer’s positivity rate is 23.4%, according to CDPH.
Placer County hospitals had 208 COVID-positive patients Monday, up from 137 one week earlier. The ICU increased to 29 from 24.
Yolo County has confirmed 24,788 infections and 266 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Monday.
The county’s latest reported case rate is 32.3 per 100,000, for the week ending Jan. 5.
CDPH reports Yolo County’s positivity rate at 8.5%, among the state’s lowest.
Yolo County hospitals were treating seven patients with COVID-19 on Monday, down from 11 one week earlier. The ICU total dropped from three to one.
El Dorado County has reported 19,858 cumulative cases and 175 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Monday.
El Dorado’s latest reported case rate, for the week ending Jan. 3, was 80 per 100,000, expanding on an all-time record.
The county had a positivity rate of 23.7%, CDPH reported Tuesday.
Hospitals in El Dorado County had 16 COVID-positive patients Monday, up from 13 a week earlier. Two were in intensive care, down from six a week earlier.
Sutter County has recorded 16,441 cases and 203 deaths, and Yuba County has recorded 12,627 cases with 90 deaths, according to a Monday update from the bi-county health office.
CDPH reported Sutter County at 63 daily cases per 100,000 and Yuba County at 68 per 100,000 as of Tuesday.
Positivity was 28.9% in Yuba and 28.6% in Sutter, ranking seventh- and eighth-highest, respectively, among California’s 58 counties, according to CDPH.
The lone hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist Health and Rideout in Marysville, as of Monday had 48 patients with confirmed COVID-19, more than double its total of 23 one week earlier. Seven were in the ICU, up from six.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 10:21 AM.
