Sacramento County announces 6 new cases of coronavirus, bringing total to 17
Seventeen people in Sacramento County have now been afflicted with the coronavirus, county heath officials disclosed Thursday afternoon.
That is up from 11 cases previously reported on Monday. One of them is a woman at an Elk Grove assisted living home who died on Tuesday. County officials declined to release details on the six new cases.
The first case of the virus in Sacramento occurred on Feb. 19, when a seriously ill woman was transported from Solano County to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for treatment.
That woman, who was reported in improved condition on Wednesday in the hospital, does not appear to be linked to the subsequent cases in the county. All UC Davis Medical Center employees who interacted with her were tested and those tests showed none had contracted the virus.
Citing patient confidentiality, county officials have declined to offer information about most of the others.
On Monday, however, amid controversy over the shutdown of the Elk Grove Unified School District this week, health officials disclosed that one elementary school student in that district had tested positive for the virus. That young person was reported to be in good shape earlier this week in quarantine at home.
Officials said two other individuals in that same household also had contracted the virus.
True number of coronavirus infections
Although the official county number now is 17, epidemiologists suggest that the true number could be much higher than that. Many people who contract the virus do not get sick. Others feel ill, but not sick enough to see doctors.
As well, the county still has only minimal ability to test for the virus. Earlier this week, officials with the assisted care living center in Elk Grove reported on their website some tests had been done and that none of the patients tested had the virus. Patients at that facility are sequestered in their rooms.
Statewide in California on Thursday, there were 179 known cases of people sick with the virus, according to a tracking database at Johns Hopkins University. That number as well is likely far lower than the true number. The tracker has registered four deaths in the state. A fifth was reported in Los Angeles on Thursday.
National, state and local officials have raced in the last 24 hours to shut down major events and gatherings in hopes of quelling the spread of the virus. In most cases, officials are asking groups to cancel events with more than 250 expected participants.
County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson has warned residents to expect more cases. How many more, he said, is a “crap shoot.” Officials hope that by reducing the number of large gatherings and by asking sick people to stay home, they can reduce the speed and size of the virus transmission here and elsewhere.
The number of known cases in the United States has nearly tripled in a week, despite a pervasive lack of testing kits nationally.
The country has registered 1,323 cases as of Thursday morning. That ranks the U.S. eighth internationally behind China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany. Some of those countries, however, have reportedly done more testing than the U.S.
On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump banned most Europeans from entering the country.
This is a developing story. Return to sacbee.com for updates.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 2:29 PM.