42 California counties now in CDC’s ‘high’ COVID-19 level, with LA nearing mask order
Propelled by the contagious and immune-evasive BA.5 subvariant, coronavirus transmission rates continue to elevate in California, where the nation’s most populous county could soon return to an indoor mask mandate as hospitalizations with COVID-19 have reached their highest point in nearly five months.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now calls for indoor masking in 42 of California’s 58 counties due to rising case and hospitalization rates, according to a weekly update Thursday, up from 38 counties last week.
With Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara among counties joining the list this week, a large majority of California’s population – about 34 million of its 39.5 million residents – are now in the CDC’s “high” community level for COVID-19 danger.
The 16 counties not in the high level as of Thursday’s update were Alpine, Calaveras, Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Sierra and Siskyou.
Local health officials announced that if Los Angeles County is classified in the CDC’s high community level for two consecutive weeks, the county would return to an indoor mask order the following day.
That means the county of 10 million people is on track for another mask mandate as early as July 22, barring a sudden and drastic improvement to case and hospital numbers.
Amid California’s ongoing surge, Alameda is the only county to have returned to a mask requirement, doing so briefly last month.
Health officers in several counties, including Sacramento and Yolo in the capital region, have said they would not consider reinstituting mandatory masking unless hospitals faced the threat of being overwhelmed.
The California Department of Public Health on Friday reported the state’s case rate for COVID-19 at 40.6 per 100,000.
The rate of lab testing for COVID-19 continues to decline, largely due to the availability of at-home rapid tests and partly due to the recent July 4 holiday.
As a result, test positivity increased to 16.7% as of Friday, up from 15.7% one week earlier for California’s highest reading since Jan. 25. The state’s all-time high is 22.5%, set during the peak of the initial omicron surge in early January.
The four-county capital region of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo remained in the CDC’s high level this week. CDPH reports all four counties with lower positivity than the state average: El Dorado at 16.2%, Placer at 14.8%, Sacramento at 14.7% and Yolo at 10.6%.
Some of the highest positivity rates are now found in Southern California. State health officials recorded Riverside County at 23%, Orange County at 19.7%, San Bernardino County at 19.1%, San Diego County at 17.4% and Los Angeles County at 15.6%.
Hospital totals up statewide, but flatter in capital region
CDPH on Friday reported 4,432 patients with COVID-19 in hospital beds including 481 in intensive care units, up from 4,009 and 445, respectively, a week earlier. The state in late April fell below 1,000 hospitalized virus patients, with fewer than 120 in an ICU.
The statewide hospital figures remain well below the peak of more than 15,000 patients reached during the omicron surge in January, including 2,600 in intensive care units.
Hospitalizations with COVID-19 are continuing to increase in most of Southern California while showing early signs of plateauing in the Sacramento area and some Bay Area counties, state health data show. Sacramento County has fluctuated between about 180 and 210 virus patients in hospitals for most of the past month, CDPH data show.
As community spread increases, many of the recent cases ending up in hospitals are people admitted for unrelated ailments who test positive for COVID-19 upon screening. Dr. Michael Vollmer, the head of epidemiology for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region, recently told The Sacramento Bee that he estimates between about 30% and 50% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fall in this category.
COVID-19 deaths increasing in Sacramento
At least 51 Sacramento County residents died of COVID-19 in June, according to the local health office, up from 34 in May and 31 in April.
County health officials have confirmed 3,283 virus deaths in residents since the start of the pandemic. More than 400 died in December 2020 and more than 330 in January 2021 during the region’s worst surge. Amid this year’s omicron wave, at least 260 died in January and 185 in February.
Last month’s tally is the highest for any April, May or June in the past three years. This June’s toll may increase further in the coming days, as death confirmations often take a few weeks.
The statewide fatality rate for COVID-19 also continues to creep upward during the current wave, from a low point of 10 per day in early May to a seven-day average of 21 reported Friday by CDPH. The rate remains well below the peak of more than 270 daily deaths at the height of the omicron surge.
Sacramento-area numbers by county
Sacramento County’s latest case rate is 33.1 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in Friday’s update, an 11% decrease from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Sacramento County were treating 208 virus patients Thursday, state data show, up from 197 one week earlier. The intensive care unit decreased to 22 from 23.
Placer County’s latest case rate is 26.6 per 100,000 residents, an 11% increase from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Placer County were treating 88 virus patients Thursday, down from 92 one week earlier. The ICU total decreased to nine from 10.
Yolo County’s latest case rate is 27.3 per 100,000 residents, a 40% decrease from one week earlier.
Hospitals in Yolo County were treating 11 virus patients Thursday, up from five. The ICU total decreased to nine from 10.
El Dorado County’s latest case rate is 21.5 per 100,000 residents, a 42% decrease from one week earlier.
Hospitals in El Dorado County were treating 12 virus patients Monday, up from nine a week earlier. The ICU total increased to four from one.
Sutter County’s latest case rate is 32.38 per 100,000 residents, down 2% from last week, and Yuba County’s is 31.5 per 100,000, down 8%, state health officials reported Friday.
The only hospital in Yuba County, which serves the Yuba-Sutter bicounty area, was treating 14 virus patients Thursday, up from nine one week earlier. The ICU total dropped to zero from one.
This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 11:07 AM with the headline "42 California counties now in CDC’s ‘high’ COVID-19 level, with LA nearing mask order."
