COVID-19 surge worsens in Sacramento area, with BA.4, BA.5 variants rising in one county
California’s coronavirus surge is continuing to deepen, with more than a dozen counties placed this week into the “high” community level for COVID-19 danger by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State health data also show infections and hospitalizations with COVID-19 continuing to climb.
The statewide case rate has increased to 34.6 per 100,000 residents and its test positivity rate to 8.3%, the California Department of Public Health said in a Friday update.
The case rate increased only 9% in the past week but positivity grew by about 30%, up from 6.4%. That is likely a reflection of cases being undercounted, as many at-home rapid test results go unreported to health officials.
Sacramento-area counties continue to have some of the state’s worst positivity numbers. Aside from sparsely populated Modoc, Siskiyou and Alpine counties, the four highest rates in California were Placer at 14.1%, El Dorado at 13.6%, Sacramento at 13.1% and Yuba at 12.9%.
Following Yuba are three Bay Area counties: San Francisco at 12.5%, Contra Costa at 12% and Napa at 11.9%.
Sacramento County’s latest positivity has surpassed its worst point from the winter 2020 surge, which topped out around 12%. The county remains below its record high of 25% set this January during the omicron surge.
Thirty-nine of California’s 58 counties now have positivity rates of 10% or higher, with the state average being pulled downward by Los Angeles County’s 4.8%.
The CDC on Thursday moved Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo and nine other counties into the high community level, in which masks should be worn in indoor public settings.
Sacramento City Unified will return to a mask mandate Monday, for its final two weeks of the academic year, in response to the upgraded risk tier from the CDC. The K-12 district recorded about five times as many cases among students during May, and seven times as many among staff, than during April.
Alameda County issued a local health order requiring indoor masking, which took effect Friday. Alameda is not yet in the CDC’s high level, but is near the high threshold due to rising hospitalizations in the region.
More than 2,400 patients are now hospitalized in California with confirmed COVID-19 statewide, a 17% increase from one week earlier and a 130% increase compared to May 1.
Of 2,415 virus patients reported Friday, 276 were in intensive care units, up 13% from last week and 86% higher than on May 1.
California’s death rate for COVID-19 remains near its lowest point of the pandemic, averaging just under 10 deaths per day in the state of 39.5 million people, according to CDPH.
BA.4 and BA.5 on the rise
Two subvariants of omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5, which have dominated South Africa and parts of Europe in recent months, were recently detected in Yolo County and in Bay Area wastewater, local health officials said.
The two new, related subvariants of omicron, which have been jointly classified as a distinct variant of concern from omicron by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, appear to be making up a growing share of Yolo County’s COVID-19 cases.
Healthy Davis Together in a Thursday data update reported that “possible” cases of BA.4 and BA.5 made up 6.1% of Yolo County’s positive cases last week – up from 2.3% the previous week and 0.9% the week ending May 14.
U.S. CDC variant data does not yet include proportions for BA.4 and BA.5.
Officials with the European CDC have said BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be more contagious than the BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 strains currently dominant across the U.S. and in California, which were already significantly more contagious than the original omicron strain known as BA.1. BA.4 and BA.5 also appear to be effective in evading prior immune protection.
The European CDC has said there is not yet evidence that BA.4 or BA.5 cause more severe illness than other versions of omicron.
Sacramento-area numbers by county
Sacramento County’s latest case rate is 36.7 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in Friday’s update, a 13% increase from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Sacramento County were treating 167 virus patients Thursday, state data show, up from 144 one week earlier and the highest total since March 4. The intensive care unit increased to 21 from 18 in the past week.
Placer County’s latest case rate is 29.3 per 100,000 residents, a 5% decrease from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Placer County were treating 83 virus patients Thursday, up from 56 one week earlier, and also the county’s highest since March 4. The ICU total increased to 13 from seven.
Yolo County’s latest case rate is 33.5 per 100,000 residents, a 6% decrease from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Yolo County were treating five virus patients Thursday, up from four a week earlier. The ICU total was zero each day.
El Dorado County’s latest case rate is 28 per 100,000 residents, a 20% increase from one week earlier.
Hospitals in El Dorado County were treating 10 virus patients Thursday , up from six a week earlier. The ICU total increased to one from zero.
Sutter County’s latest case rate is 23 per 100,000 residents, up 46% from last week, and Yuba County’s is 27.7 per 100,000, up 5%, state health officials reported Friday.
The only hospital in Yuba County, which serves the Yuba-Sutter bi-county area, was treating seven virus patients Thursday, down from nine a week earlier. The ICU total was zero each day.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 10:25 AM.
