Coronavirus update: California crosses 14,000 COVID-19 deaths, 750,000 cases

Even as California’s COVID-19 death toll climbed over 14,000 and its case count crossed 750,000, counties around the state continued to report fewer of each by the passing week.

With 3,569 new cases and 99 new fatalities from the virus Thursday, according to The Mercury News, California crossed two milestones in one day. And yet the seven-day average for each continued to fall, with the 3,600 average daily cases over the past week the fewest since June 20 and the 85 average daily deaths the fewest since July 9.

In the past two weeks, the average number of daily cases has fallen 36%, daily deaths have fallen 32%, and the test-positivity rate has fallen more than two percentage points to 3.6%.

However, the number of tests has dropped off in the past two days, likely due to closures from the holiday weekend and poor air quality. The California Department of Public Health did not provide a reason for the decline in tests — an average of 60,000 the past two days, compared to normally over 100,000 — in time for publication.

The number of hospital patients fell to 3,288, the fewest active hospitalizations since June 14 and below half of its peak. The state had previously hit a low Sunday before adding a net of 46 patients between Monday and Tuesday, but its total fell by 66 patients, a 2% drop, on Wednesday alone.

The decline in hospitalizations began at the end of July and has persisted apace since, falling by nearly 25% in the past two weeks, according to this news organization’s analysis.

In the Bay Area, hospitalizations have fallen about 18% in the past two weeks and about 33% from their peak about six weeks ago. But even at its peak, the Bay Area never came close to other parts of California. Its peak per-capita hospitalization rate — about one in every 10,000 — was less than half that of the high in Los Angeles County and almost one-third of the San Joaquin Valley.

California’s worst per-capita outbreak remains in the San Joaquin Valley, with about 14 active hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents and a case rate nearly double the Bay Area and Los Angeles. But it too had drastically decreased its cases and hospitalizations in the past month.

Less separates the three regions now than at their peaks, but there is one stark outlier.

While Los Angeles and the Valley have closed the gap on hospitalizations and cases, both regions continue to report significantly more fatalities from the virus than the Bay Area, even when accounting for population.

The San Joaquin Valley reported more than four times the number of fatalities of the Bay Area, per capita, in the past week, while Los Angeles reported deaths at a per-capita rate of more than three times that of the Bay Area.

In total, the San Joaquin Valley (population: 4.3 million) recorded 111 fatalities in the past week, compared to 45 in the Bay Area (population: 8 million) and 196 in Los Angeles (population: 10 million).

Of the 14,089 fatalities across California since the pandemic began, about 43% have come in Los Angeles County alone, despite it accounting for about 25% of the statewide population. Another 13% have come in the San Joaquin Valley — slightly more than 11% share of the population but also a higher share than the Bay Area, which accounts for about 9% of the statewide fatalities and about 20% of its population.

On Thursday, Los Angeles led all counties with 38 new deaths from the virus, followed by 10 in Kern County, nine in Riverside County, seven in Sacramento County and five in San Bernardino County.

After reporting four the day prior, the Bay Area combined to report three deaths Thursday: one each in San Francisco, Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Latest in capital region: Sacramento area improving, by the numbers

In the six-county Sacramento region made up of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba counties, more than 29,000 residents have been infected since the start of the pandemic and 460 have died.

Sacramento County has reached 20,063 cases with 350 resident deaths from the virus all-time, as of Friday. The county reported 394 new cases and four new deaths on Friday. More than 150 of those all-time fatalities came in August, and at least 10 more have occurred in the first five days of September, according to the local health office.

Wednesday marked exactly six months since the first county resident officially linked to COVID-19 died, according to county health officials.

Hospital data for Sacramento County shows 151 patients in hospital beds for the virus and 53 in the ICU. Both figures remain well below a peak reached in late July of about 280 hospitalized and 90 in the ICU, and have steadily declined since mid-August, state data show.

The county now estimates 16,890 infected patients have recovered, which means there are approximately 2,800 confirmed cases among the county’s population of 1.5 million people. That figure, since about early July, had hovered between 3,000 and 3,600.

Sacramento County remains coded purple, denoting “widespread” virus activity.

Yolo County health officials have reported a total of 53 COVID-19 deaths and 2,633 infections total, after adding 23 cases and no new deaths Friday. The county reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and 24 on Tuesday. The county’s most recent death was reported a week ago. There were seven infected patients in hospitals in the county Friday; four of whom were in intensive care, according to state data. The county had three ICU beds available.

The county has seen outbreaks at several long-term care facilities, which account for 145 of the total number of cases and 26 of the deaths. Yolo County, like Sacramento County, is coded purple.

Placer County has reported a total of 3,276 cases and 38 deaths, reporting 18 new infections on Wednesday, 11 more on Thursday and 27 on Friday, with two new deaths. There are 31 people hospitalized in the county, a decrease of more than 10 since the weekend, and the ICU count has decreased from 13 to 10. Placer County has been promoted from the purple tier to the red tier.

El Dorado County has reported 1,032 COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the virus after adding seven new cases on Friday. The county reported 12 new cases on Thursday. Only one infected patient was in intensive care at a hospital in the county on Friday, according to state data. The county had seven ICU beds available. El Dorado County has been coded red by state health officials.

Sutter County has reported a total of 1,542 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths after reporting 14 new cases on Thursday. There were 14 infected people hospitalized in the county Thursday; three of them were in intensive care, county health officials reported. In neighboring Yuba County, a total of 1,044 people have been infected with COVID-19 and seven deaths after reporting five new cases Thursday. Eight infected people in Yuba County were hospitalized Friday; one of them was in intensive care.

Both Sutter and Yuba counties, which share a bi-county health office, are coded purple. They also each have infection rates that are too high for either county to permit waivers for elementary school campuses to reopen.

This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 8:41 AM.