COVID updates: In-person visitation to remain suspended at California prisons
On the eve of California loosening its mask restrictions, allowing a two-month health order implemented to curb the spread of omicron to expire, infections and virus hospitalizations across the state remain on a steep downward trend.
The California Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported the state’s daily case rate at 51 per 100,000 residents, down from 95 per 100,000 one week earlier and from 299 per 100,000 at the height of the omicron surge in early January.
Statewide test positivity is also falling, recorded Tuesday at 5.7%, down from 8.9% a week earlier. Positivity peaked at 22.6% in early January.
Hospitalizations on Monday dropped below 8,000 for the first time since Jan. 3. The patient total peaked during the omicron wave at 15,435 COVID-positive patients on Jan. 21.
CDPH reported 1,564 in intensive care units Monday, down from a peak of 2,609 on Jan. 25.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, state Health and Human Services secretary, during a Monday news conference said the daily number of hospital admissions for COVID-19 has dropped a “tremendous amount” in the past month.
Daily admissions fell from 2,808 on Jan. 14 to 1,047 on Feb. 14.
Ghaly also shared a chart showing state health officials’ projections, predicting that the state could fall below 2,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients around early April. That would be the lowest level since July.
California to date has recorded close to 8.3 million lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. At least 82,142 Californians have died of coronavirus, according to CDPH.
Prisons will continue to restrict inmate visitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Tuesday announced that in-person visits to state prison inmates will remain “paused” at all facilities.
Starting Wednesday, state prison institutions will be categorized as either in the “open phase” or in the “outbreak phase,” with the latter introducing tighter restrictions including limits on dayroom access and recreational activities; shutdown of congregate religious activities; and removal of video visitation options for those on isolation or quarantine housing.
According to CDCR, a facility is considered “open” once it has gone 14 days with no new outbreaks. The agency defines an “outbreak” as “three or more related cases of COVID-19 among incarcerated persons” within a two-week window.
CDCR is not providing the full breakdown of facilities by status until Wednesday, but said in a Tuesday statement that most of its facilities are in outbreak phase.
In-person visitations remain suspended until further notice, both at open- and outbreak-phase facilities.
A data dashboard showed more than 1,850 inmates actively infected with COVID-19 as of Tuesday morning.
Eighteen prisons, including Folsom State Prison (65) and California State Prison, Sacramento (68) had at least 50 active inmate cases;. Twenty-eight prisons had 10 active cases or more, leaving only six prisons with fewer than 10.
At least 249 state prison inmates and 50 CDCR employees have died of COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.
Latest Sacramento-area numbers
Sacramento County has recorded 274,155 total lab-confirmed cases and 2,837 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to local health officials.
The county on Tuesday reported the daily case rate at 38.2 per 100,000 residents, plummeting from an all-time high of 245 per 100,000 recorded Jan. 10.
According to CDPH, Sacramento County’s latest test positivity rate is 8.9%.
County hospitals were treating 415 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as of Monday, down from 485 one week earlier. The ICU total dropped to 66 from 95.
Placer County has tallied 61,229 cases and 547 virus deaths, last updated Monday.
Local health officials last reported the daily case rate at 55 per 100,000 for the week ending Feb. 5.
Placer’s latest positivity rate was 9.1%, CDPH reported Tuesday.
Placer County hospitals had 128 COVID-positive patients Monday, down from 182 one week earlier. The ICU tally decreased to 23 from 34.
Yolo County has confirmed 34,772 total infections and 282 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Monday.
Yolo’s latest case rate was 98 per 100,000 for the week ending Feb. 7, the local health office said.
CDPH reported Yolo County’s positivity rate at 2.8%, the lowest among all of the state’s 58 counties.
Yolo County hospitals were treating 13 patients with COVID-19 on Monday, down from 18 the previous Monday. The ICU count declined to three from six.
El Dorado County has reported 25,934 cumulative cases and 192 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Monday.
El Dorado’s latest reported case rate, for the week ending Feb. 4, was 30 per 100,000.
The county had a positivity rate of 8.2%, CDPH reported Tuesday.
Hospitals in El Dorado County had 24 COVID-positive patients Monday, down from 25 a week earlier. The ICU total dropped to three from five.
Sutter County has recorded 21,746 cases and 217 deaths, and Yuba County has recorded 17,080 cases with 100 deaths, according to a Monday update from the bi-county health office.
CDPH reported Yuba County at 57 daily cases per 100,000 and Sutter County at 47 per 100,000 as of Tuesday. Positivity was 14.9% in Yuba and 12.9% in Sutter.
The lone hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist Health and Rideout in Marysville, as of Monday had 30 patients with confirmed COVID-19, down from 55 a week earlier. The ICU total dipped to 11 from 13.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 12:16 PM.
