COVID updates: California county bans large gatherings as omicron surge deepens
As California hospitals fill with COVID-19 cases and essentially all parts of the state record extreme transmission rates, some local health offices are instituting tight restrictions, declaring emergencies and closing K-12 campuses as the omicron variant spreads.
The California Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported the statewide daily case rate at 193 per 100,000 residents and test positivity at 23.1%, again building on record highs for each figure. The case rate is now more than 70% higher than the pre-omicron record of 112 per 100,000 set in the winter 2020 surge.
Fifty of the state’s 58 counties had positivity rates above 15%, with a vast majority at their all-time high, according to the state health department.
Statewide, 12,317 patients were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases Tuesday, CDPH reported Wednesday, up from 8,032 a week earlier. More than 1,900 are now in intensive care units, up from about 1,400 on Jan. 4.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state now expects to break its all-time record — of about 22,000 COVID-positive patients hospitalized, reached in January 2021 — by early February.
Health officials and hospital providers in the Sacramento area are urging residents not to visit emergency rooms for COVID-19 testing or even for mild cases of the coronavirus.
“Most people who contract coronavirus do not need to visit a hospital emergency department and can recover from their illness at home or by seeking primary care treatment,” Sacramento County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said in a statement this week.
“Those seeking testing should do so from one of the many community testing sites, not an ED.”
People with COVID-19 should seek medical care if they experience trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion or other serious symptoms listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
North Bay Area county restricts gatherings
Sonoma County this week issued a new local health order prohibiting large gatherings, one of the strictest imposed in any California county since the state dropped most COVID-19 business and activity restrictions in June.
The order, which went into effect Wednesday, bans indoor gatherings of more than 50 people as well as outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people in settings where attendees cannot keep six feet of distance from others.
Sonoma County health officer Dr. Sundari Mase’s order also says gatherings smaller than 50 people “should be, but are not required to be, postponed, canceled, or conducted virtually.”
The order also restricts non-family gatherings of more than 12 people in which anyone attending is at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, which includes those with underlying health conditions.
The restrictions do not apply to workplaces, courthouses, places of worship, restaurants, museums shopping malls or “regular school instructional events.”
They do, however, apply to concerts, weddings, parties, other social gatherings and extracurricular activities at schools including sports.
The health order also states that gatherings with 12 or more people “have been the known source of 50 percent of the new infections over the last two weeks.”
County health officials implemented the order due to Sonoma’s “exponential increase in COVID-19 cases.” The order says county’s daily case rate has increased from 24 per 100,000 to 121 per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
CDPH data show hospitals in Sonoma County were treating 80 virus patients as of Tuesday, more than double the 34 reported one week earlier.
“By reducing the spread of COVID-19, this Order will help preserve critical and limited healthcare capacity,” county health officials wrote.
State’s smallest county declares emergency, closes schools
Alpine County in the Sierra Nevada mountains, California’s least populous county at about 1,200 residents, on Tuesday declared a local health emergency due to severe COVID-19 transmission and outbreaks.
“School facilities in Alpine County have been closed due to a high (percentage) of exposures among students and staff, and insufficient staff to sustain a safe learning environment, with only 60% of staff being completely vaccinated, and few students vaccinated,” county health officer Dr. Richard Johnson wrote in the emergency order.
Diamond Valley Elementary School in Markleeville, which serves about 80 students, closed this week after four positive cases were detected Monday.
“We performed contact tracing and discovered that 40% of students and 48% of staff have been exposed at Diamond Valley Elementary School and the District office,” the county education office wrote in a statement.
The school adjourned early on Monday and, after consultation with Johnson, transitioned to remote learning. The school plans to return in-person next Tuesday.
“Many businesses have reported cases among staff, including several with congregate housing outbreaks,” Johnson continued in his health emergency declaration. “Some businesses have been forced to shut down or limit services due to lack of staff.”
Johnson also wrote that Alpine County’s supply of testing kits “is now virtually exhausted, with no assurance the situation will be resolved in the near future.”
Alpine County also issued an order requiring public meetings to be held virtually, mirroring a similar order imposed last week in Sacramento County.
New workplace rules take effect in California
Workplace COVID-19 rules are set to change Friday in California under new rules from Cal-OSHA.
Workers can no longer use self-administered, self-read tests following exposure. Employees’ tests must instead go to a lab, or an employee can take a rapid test in front of a supervisor.
With indoor mask requirement remaining in place, Cal-OSHA is also tightening its definition of an acceptable mask: it is now “a surgical mask, a medical procedure mask, a respirator worn voluntarily or a tightly woven fabric or non-woven material of at least two layers.”
Fabric masks must pass a “light test” — they may not let light pass through when held up to a light source.
Masks remain required in indoor public settings through at least Feb. 15 in California.
Surge continues at Folsom State Prison, other facilities
California’s state prison system has seen a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases among both inmates and staff during the omicron surge.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials as of Wednesday morning reported just over 3,000 active inmate infections systemwide and just shy of 4,000 active cases among CDCR employees.
A large outbreak is developing at Folsom State Prison, which had 311 active inmate cases as of midday Wednesday, nearly an eightfold increase from one week earlier.
The historic prison had its first outbreak August 2020 to October 2020, peaking at close to 700 active inmate cases that September. The prison in 2021 never recorded an active case load above single-digits, the CDCR data dashboard shows.
California’s largest inmate outbreaks are at North Kern State Prison (509 active cases in custody as of Wednesday), for which CDCR has suspended intake; the California Institute for Men in Chino (484 active cases); California Rehabilitation Center in Riverside County (412 active cases); and Wasco State Prison in Kern County (387 cases).
CDCR last week suspended all in-person visitations at state prisons.
Latest Sacramento-area numbers
Sacramento County has recorded 204,336 total lab-confirmed cases and 2,576 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to local health officials.
The county on Wednesday added more than 3,600 new confirmed cases, increasing the daily case rate to 190 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 24.5%.
County hospitals were treating 464 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as of Tuesday, up from 291 one week earlier. The ICU total increased to 82 from 55.
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 25.4%, according to CDPH.
Placer County hospitals had 215 COVID-positive patients Tuesday, up from 131 one week earlier. The ICU increased to 32 from 23.
Yolo County has confirmed 25,152 infections and 266 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Tuesday.
The county’s latest reported case rate is 110 per 100,000, for the week ending Jan. 6.
CDPH reports Yolo County’s positivity rate at 8.7%, among the state’s lowest.
Yolo County hospitals were treating 12 patients with COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same total as one week earlier. The ICU total dropped to two from four.
El Dorado County has reported 20,056 cumulative cases and 177 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Tuesday.
El Dorado’s latest reported case rate, for the week ending Jan. 4, was 93.1 per 100,000, expanding on an all-time record.
The county had a positivity rate of 23.8%, CDPH reported Wednesday.
Hospitals in El Dorado County had 16 COVID-positive patients Tuesday, ticking up from 15 a week earlier. Three were in intensive care, down from six a week earlier.
Sutter County has recorded 16,699 cases and 203 deaths, and Yuba County has recorded 12,708 cases with 90 deaths, according to a Tuesday update from the bi-county health office.
CDPH reported Sutter County at 76 daily cases per 100,000 and Yuba County at 79 per 100,000 as of Wednesday.
Positivity was 30.7% in Yuba and 30.5% 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 Tuesday had 40 patients with confirmed COVID-19, up from 22 one week earlier. Seven were in the ICU, up from six.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 9:50 AM.
