One in 1,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 as California passes new milestone
Although California’s rate of coronavirus infections has been slowing, indicating a potential end to the winter surge that wrought havoc over the holidays, COVID-19 deaths are still lagging behind and continuing to rise.
On Saturday, California passed a new milestone: One in 1,000 residents of the state have died from the disease.
Data from the California Department of Public Health showed California surpassed 40,000 deaths from the virus — adding a third to its total death toll in less than a month. Through Friday, a total of 3.22 million Californians have been infected since the start of the pandemic and 40,216 have died.
On Jan. 12, less than three weeks ago, the CDPH was reporting 30,000 dead, and although daily infection reports have been diminishing — prompting public officials to roll back economic restrictions — the virus is still as deadly as ever.
On Jan. 8, a whopping 52,636 people were confirmed infected with coronavirus — not quite hitting the record 53,711 infections reported on Dec. 15, but noteworthy in that it was the last day to have broken the 50,000-infection threshold. In early January, daily infections ranging from 40,000 to 50,000 were commonplace.
On Friday, the significantly reduced daily caseload reflected the drop in viral activity with a comparatively low 18,427 confirmed infections. This week’s average of daily infections has gone down by 24.6% compared with the week prior, according to the CDPH. Daily infection reports haven’t been this low since early December.
The state’s test positivity rate reflects this decrease. The past week showed 6.9% of coronavirus tests came back positive, down from 7.8% based on the past two weeks. Thus far, nearly 42 million tests have been administered.
However, average daily infections in past months were minuscule relative to recent days. Between September and early October, daily cases ranged more commonly between 2,000 and 3,000.
Another alarming indication of the current dangers of the pandemic is the ever-increasing rate of mortalities. This week’s average deaths per day is 551, up 13.3% from the week before. On Friday, 638 people were reported to have died of COVID-19 by the CDPH.
Due to the incubation period for the coronavirus, deaths may continue to occur at a higher rate as much as two weeks after infections start tapering off. This means that deaths should undergo a similar plateau and decline as the infection rates some time in early February.
Noting improved projections for hospitals across the state earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted California’s stay-at-home orders, which were in place for all regions save Northern California.
Currently, there are 15,113 Californians in hospitals across the state, nearly 4,000 of whom are in intensive care units, according to the CDPH. While still significantly higher than in the early fall, hospitalizations have been going down alongside infections. At its highest point yet, the state had nearly 22,000 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in early January, and hospitalizations have been going down steadily since Jan. 6. The same trend applies to ICU figures, which have been going down since Jan. 9.
ICU capacity has only recently started to rebound after hitting shockingly low levels in recent weeks. With both Southern California and Central California for weeks have been locked at zero ICU capacity, and remain at that level — although public health officials expect that to rise in the days ahead.
Statewide, there are 1,184 ICU beds available, up from 1,030 on Jan. 20. Between April and July, the state was reporting around 4,000 beds open.
Northern California, the sole region to never dip below the 15% capacity threshold which triggered the stay-at-home orders, currently has an ICU capacity of 47.9%, the highest in the state. The Bay Area has an 8.2% available capacity, and the Greater Sacramento region has 9.9% of its ICU beds open.
Sacramento-area COVID-19 figures
The six counties that make up the bulk of the 13-county Greater Sacramento region — Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties — have reported more than 135,000 combined positive cases and at least 1,770 virus deaths.
Following the statewide trend, the rate of new cases is slowing in all six of those counties while deaths, which lag a few weeks behind infections, continue to pour in.
Sacramento County has confirmed 85,392 cases since the start of the pandemic, and at least 1,239 of those residents have died of COVID-19. The county reported 491 cases and 23 new deaths Friday, after adding 603 cases and eight deaths Thursday.
By date of death occurrence, December was by far Sacramento County’s deadliest month of the pandemic. County health officials have confirmed 375 deaths for December.
With Friday’s update, January’s confirmed death toll is up to 183, with fatalities occurring through Jan. 25 reported.
Virus hospitalizations in Sacramento County have trended mostly down while the ICU patient total remains elevated but may also be showing early signs of dropping. The overall patient total fell from 379 in Thursday’s state data update to 352 by Saturday.
The countywide ICU total, which hit a record-high 130 early last week, dropped to 107 this past Monday and was the same by Saturday. However, the state now reports only 49 ICU beds remaining available in the county, the fewest since April.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 18,399 infections and 199 deaths. Placer on Thursday reported 138 new cases and no deaths after adding 95 new cases and four fatalities in Wednesday’s update. On Saturday, 132 new cases and seven deaths were reported.
State data showed 118 hospitalized in Placer on Saturday, up from 105 reported Thursday, but the ICU total fell by four from 27 to 23. The number of available ICU beds increased by five from Thursday, up to 12.
Yolo County has reported a total of 11,434 cases and 149 deaths. Yolo added 80 cases and two new deaths on Friday, after reporting 60 cases and one death Wednesday and 90 cases and eight deaths Tuesday. Saturday’s update added 110 more infections.
State data showed Yolo with 17 virus patients Saturday, down from 27 on Wednesday and 22 on Thursday. The ICU total is 10 patients, with zero ICU beds available.
El Dorado County has reported 8,359 positive test results and 79 deaths. The county reported just 23 new cases Wednesday but five new deaths, following 61 cases and four deaths Tuesday. On Friday, 91 new cases and five deaths were added.
El Dorado has reported a surge of COVID-19 deaths. In the past week, the county disclosed 29 deaths, which is 41% of its death toll for the nearly 11-month health crisis.
Following just five deaths from March through late November, more than 66 El Dorado residents have died of COVID-19 in the past two months, dating to Thanksgiving.
State health officials reported 15 virus patients in El Dorado hospitals as of Saturday, which matches the lowest total since Dec. 3 and is down from 23 at the start of this week. The ICU total has dropped, from nine on Tuesday to six by Thursday and three on Saturday. Twelve ICU beds are now available, up from four on Thursday.
In Sutter County, at least 8,264 people have contracted the virus and 86 have died. Sutter on Wednesday added 38 new cases and one new death, following 63 cases and one death reported Tuesday. Friday’s update added 58 more cases and one death.
Sutter reported 29 residents hospitalized with COVID-19 including six in intensive care as of Wednesday, compared with 27 and nine on Tuesday.
Neighboring Yuba County has reported 5,324 infections and 31 dead. The county added only 10 new cases and no deaths Wednesday, following 52 cases Tuesday. A Friday update added 40 infections and one death.
Yuba said Friday it had 31 residents hospitalized with the virus, seven in the ICU.
Not all patients are hospitalized in-county, but the only hospital serving the Yuba-Sutter bicounty region — Adventist-Rideout in Marysville — had 49 hospitalized virus patients as of Friday, down from 51 on Thursday. The ICU total went from 11 to 12, and available ICU beds dropped from four to two.
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 1:37 PM with the headline "One in 1,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 as California passes new milestone."
