COVID updates: California reaches 80,000 virus deaths, 8 million confirmed cases
California reached a pair of milestones in the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday: 8 million lab-confirmed infections and 80,000 deaths from the virus have officially been recorded, according to the state health department.
More than 3 million cases have come in the past six weeks amid the omicron wave, California Department of Public Health data show, compared to 5 million in the preceding 96 weeks.
CDPH reported the state surpassing 5 million cases immediately after the Christmas holiday weekend.
The official tallies as of Friday were 8,006,410 positive cases and 80,022 COVID-19 deaths. Case totals do not include unreported at-home test results.
The omicron surge is still subsiding. CDPH on Friday reported California’s daily case rate at 128 per 100,000, down from 144 per 100,000 one day earlier and 206 per 100,000 a week earlier. The rate peaked at an all-time high of 296 per 100,000 in early January.
However, 128 per 100,000 remains a higher transmission level than any point in the pandemic prior to the arrival of the omicron variant, which took hold as California’s dominant strain in mid-December.
California’s test positivity rate, which peaked during the omicron surge at 22.8% for the week ending Jan. 10, has dropped to 12.7%, its lowest rate since Dec. 26.
Hospitalizations are also falling sharply, with 12,134 COVID-positive patients in California hospital beds Thursday, down more than 500 patients from Wednesday. The total in intensive care units dropped to 2,283, declining by 83 from Wednesday.
Virus deaths have spiked in the weeks since omicron cases peaked, with CDPH reporting a seven-day average of 106 deaths, up from about 55 per day in late December.
The delta variant surge peaked at about 135 daily deaths; the 2020 winter surge, which started before vaccines rolled out, reached nearly 700 daily deaths at its worst point.
In data newly released this week, CDPH said unvaccinated residents were about 30 times more likely to die of COVID-19 as of mid-January than those who were fully vaccinated and boosted.
Latest Sacramento-area numbers
Sacramento County has recorded 264,669 total lab-confirmed cases and 2,715 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to local health officials.
The county on Thursday reported the daily case rate at 106 per 100,000 residents, down from an all-time high of 243 per 100,000 recorded Jan. 10.
According to CDPH, Sacramento County’s latest test positivity rate is 15.6%.
County hospitals were treating 576 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as of Thursday, down from 599 one week earlier. The ICU total held at 96.
Placer County has tallied 58,803 cases and 531 virus deaths to date, last updated Wednesday.
Local health officials last reported the daily case rate at 124 per 100,000 for the week ending Jan. 24.
Placer’s positivity rate is 17.9%, CDPH reported Friday.
Placer County hospitals had 188 COVID-positive patients Thursday, down from 251 one week earlier. The ICU tally decreased to 41 from 49.
Yolo County has confirmed 33,230 total infections and 277 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Thursday.
The county’s latest reported case rate is 147 per 100,000, for the week ending Jan. 29.
CDPH reported Yolo County’s positivity rate at 4%, the lowest among all of the state’s 58 counties.
Yolo County hospitals were treating 21 patients with COVID-19 on Thursday, down from 24 one week earlier. The ICU stayed at seven.
El Dorado County has reported 25,323 cumulative cases and 189 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Thursday.
El Dorado’s latest reported case rate, for the week ending Jan. 27, was 65 per 100,000.
The county had a positivity rate of 16%, CDPH reported Friday.
Hospitals in El Dorado County had 20 COVID-positive patients Thursday, down from 25 a week earlier. Five patients were in ICUs, up from four.
Sutter County has recorded 21,065 cases and 211 deaths, and Yuba County has recorded 16,529 cases with 98 deaths, according to a Thursday update from the bi-county health office.
CDPH reported Yuba County at 117 daily cases per 100,000 and Sutter County at 105 per 100,000 as of Thursday. Positivity was 26.2% in Yuba and 23.3% in Sutter.
The lone hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist Health and Rideout in Marysville, as of Thursday had 77 patients with confirmed COVID-19, up from 66 a week earlier. The ICU total increased to 12 from eight.
