Coronavirus updates: With COVID rates improving, what’s next in California reopening plan?
California and the nation at large continue to see dramatic improvement in coronavirus infection figures, renewing policy decisions and discussions on how best to reopen the economy, schools and other activities without inviting another surge.
The Golden State has returned to similar COVID-19 case rates to before the surge took hold.
The California Department of Public Health on Monday reported two-week test positivity at 3.3%. The state for most of October stayed between 2.5% and 3% positivity, before doubling from 3.2% to 6.5% over the course of November. The rate peaked in early January at 14%.
Hospitalizations for confirmed COVID-19 cases are plummeting, as releases plus fatalities outnumber new admissions by a few hundred each day. The statewide hospitalized total has fallen from about 22,000 in early January to fewer than 6,600 as of Monday’s update.
The improvements are coming broadly across most of the state, CDPH data show.
In the state’s weekly tier list, which governs restriction levels for its 58 counties, the vast majority remain in the strictest purple tier. But many are progressing toward the threshold for the looser red tier, which would allow things like restaurant dining, gyms and movie theaters to reopen indoors, with modifications in place.
Yolo County in the Sacramento area met all criteria for the red tier and could be promoted as early as Tuesday. Movement to a looser tier requires two consecutive weeks meeting that tier’s qualifications, the main two of which are a test positivity rate below 8% and an average of fewer than seven daily cases per 100,000 residents.
School districts are continuing to work out reopening plans, as several jurisdictions have opened vaccinations to teachers. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced late last week that beginning March 1, California will reserve 10% of its vaccines for education and childcare workers.
With doses opened to teachers last week in Sacramento County, Sacramento City Unified School District officials have set April 8 as the target goal for returning pre-kindergarten through third grade students to classrooms on a hybrid schedule.
Additionally, state health officials last week outlined a plan to allow youth sports to resume, effective this Friday, in counties with fewer than 14 daily cases per 100,000. Twenty-seven counties met that standard in last week’s update, including Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties. Sacramento County’s case rate was 18.7 per 100,000.
As all of these developments happen, California is also on the precipice of yet another haunting milestone in the health crisis. The state is likely to confirm its 50,000th virus death of the pandemic this week, roughly a year after its first confirmed death.
The official death toll from CDPH was 49,338 as of Monday’s update, with an average of about 370 deaths coming per day over the past two weeks.
A death toll of 50,000 represents one death for about every 800 residents in the state of 40 million people. More than 3.44 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.
The U.S. has surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, the most reported by any nation in the world.
What about vaccines?
The campaign to mass vaccinate against COVID-19 is picking back up after storms blanketing most of the contiguous U.S. delayed deliveries by a few days.
CDPH reported Sunday that 8.83 million doses have been delivered to California providers, which include local health offices and hospital systems.
About 430,000 additional doses have been shipped but not yet arrived, according to the state’s data tracker. The “delivered” tally has stalled near its current total since last Friday, but CDPH data suggest about 400,000 doses shipped out between Friday’s update and Sunday’s update.
Aside from the short-term, weather-related setback, vaccinations have been ramping up at a solid pace. To date, nearly 63 million doses have been given across the U.S. including close to 7.5 million in California, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 19 million across the U.S. and close to 2 million in California have received both of their doses and are therefore fully vaccinated.
On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will meet to discuss the vaccine candidate from Johnson & Johnson, which health officials have described as a potential game-changer because it requires only one dose, is cheaper to produce and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures.
If the J&J shot is approved for emergency use, as Pfizer and Moderna’s two-dose regimens each were within about a day of their respective advisory committee meetings, doses could begin shipping out next week.
Sacramento area by the numbers
The six-county Sacramento region — Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties — has reported close to 148,000 combined positive cases and at least 2,071 virus deaths over the course of the pandemic.
Sacramento County has confirmed 92,428 cases and at least 1,438 resident deaths from COVID-19. The county on Monday reported 631 new cases and seven deaths for the three-day reporting window including the weekend. Officials on Friday reported 404 new cases and 19 deaths.
By date of death occurrence, December and January were Sacramento County’s two deadliest months of the pandemic. Health officials have confirmed 384 deaths for December and at least 311 for January. They have also now confirmed 60 resident deaths for Feb. 1 through Feb. 18.
Six of the seven deaths reported Monday happened in February, with the other from late January.
Prior to December, the county’s deadliest month of the pandemic was August, at 181 virus deaths.
The countywide total for hospitalized increased from 177 on Sunday to 185 by Monday, but both are down from 201 last Friday. The ICU total is now at 50, according to CDPH. The weekend marked the county’s first time since Nov. 17 with fewer than 200 hospitalized COVID-19 cases.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 19,520 infections and 229 deaths. Placer on Thursday reported just five new cases, but increased the death toll by six. The county then added 58 cases and no deaths in Friday’s update.
State data showed 64 virus patients in Placer hospitals as of Monday, same as Sunday but with the ICU total growing from 21 to 23.
Yolo County has reported a total of 12,428 cases and 181 deaths. The county reported 53 cases Friday following 37 on Thursday, with no deaths reported either day. Yolo on Wednesday reported nine virus deaths.
Yolo officials recently noted that deaths are confirmed in groups, meaning there may be no deaths noted for several days and then many confirmed in a day or two.
State data showed Yolo with nine virus patients hospitalized as of Monday, down from 10 on Sunday, with the ICU total holding at six.
El Dorado County has reported 9,017 positive test results and 93 deaths. The county reported 33 cases and two new deaths last Friday, following only two cases reported Thursday and following nine on Wednesday.
El Dorado has reported a significant spike in virus deaths compared to the first several months of the health crisis: 89 county residents have died of COVID-19 since Nov. 25, compared to four from last March through mid-November.
State data show El Dorado with 10 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, up from six on Sunday, with the ICU total growing from two to three.
In Sutter County, at least 8,766 people have contracted the virus and 94 have died. Officials reported 22 new cases Thursday along with one death, followed by 21 cases and no deaths Friday.
Yuba County, which shares a health office with Sutter, has reported 5,681 infections and 36 dead, adding 12 cases in Thursday’s update and 20 on Friday.
The lone hospital serving the Yuba-Sutter bicounty region — Adventist-Rideout in Marysville — had 24 hospitalized virus patients as of Monday’s update, up from 21 on Sunday, with the ICU total jumping from four to six.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 8:05 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: With COVID rates improving, what’s next in California reopening plan?."
