Coronavirus updates: California reopening guidance coming, state passes 12,000 dead
California reached 12,000 deaths from the coronavirus this weekend, as more than two-thirds of a million residents have tested positive in the past six months. But there are signs of the tide beginning to turn in the state, with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying Monday that updated reopening guidelines will come this week.
Though COVID-19 death milestones continue to come at a steady pace, particularly in the capital region, the death rate has recently shown signs of slight decline at the state level, data from the California Department of Public Health show.
Monday’s addition of just 18 fatalities dropped the two-week rolling average for COVID-19 deaths to 128, after that rate had been above 130 for most of August, peaking at 142 mid-month.
On Aug. 7, about five months into the pandemic, the state officially reported its 10,000th death. In the next two and a half weeks, another 2,150 Californians were reported dead from the respiratory disease: 12,152 have died as of Monday.
From July 5 to Aug. 5, the average ballooned from 59 to 132 deaths per day in the wake of a statewide spike in new infections and hospitalizations that began to emerge in late June.
That spike prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom in early July to re-tighten California’s stay-at-home order, requiring businesses including bars and indoor restaurants as well as places of worship and other gathering places to close back down for the vast majority of the state’s populace.
It hasn’t been loosened since then, but Newsom during a Monday news conference said to expect an update on reopening later this week, including more information on opening school campuses.
“My personal point of view is the default should be in-person education as long as it’s safe,” he said, referring to counties off the state’s watchlist, but adding that the decision is up to local leaders.
The state’s rate of new cases and hospital figures has trended in the right direction recently, especially the latter, which Newsom and state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly in recent weeks have pointed to as a promising indicator of progress in the health crisis.
By Monday’s update to state data, California had fewer than 4,500 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds, down from a peak of nearly 7,200 just over a month earlier. The intensive care unit total fell from about 2,050 to below 1,400 in the same stretch. Both are the lowest totals since late June.
Across the state, more than 668,000 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, according to CDPH. The state added just under 5,000 new cases to the count Monday morning.
80 dead in less than 3 weeks in Sacramento County; 16,000 infected all-time
August is proving to be the deadliest month of the pandemic in Sacramento County.
From Aug. 1 to Aug. 20, at least 81 county residents have died of COVID-19, according to a public health dashboard updated midday Monday. The county reports, based on date of death, that 85 coronavirus patients died in the full month of July.
The county says 246 residents have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic, which is in its sixth month. The city of Sacramento, which has roughly one-third the county’s total population of 1.5 million people, accounts for just shy of 10,000 confirmed cases and a total of 155 deaths as of Monday, the local health office says.
Of the remaining deaths, 47 have come in unincorporated parts of the county, 12 have died in Citrus Heights, 11 in Elk Grove, 10 in Rancho Cordova, six in Galt and five in Folsom.
Health officials in Sacramento County reported nearly 1,100 new cases from the weekend, increasing the all-time total to 16,331 as of Monday’s update. The county estimates just over 3,600 cases are active infections, with over 12,400 recovered and the rest dead.
The glimmer of good news for Sacramento County is that its hospitalization and ICU numbers continue to decline, down to 218 in hospital beds and 66 in the ICU with the virus. Those figures peaked July 30 at 281 and 91, respectively; both are down more than 20% in less than four weeks, state data show. Another 96 ICU beds remain available.
Large wildfires impact state’s COVID-19 response
There are 1.2 million acres burning amid 625 fires across California, Newsom said Monday, including two of the three largest in state history.
In a Monday news conference centered on the fire disasters as well as the pandemic, Newsom said 11 of the state’s 25 labs that process COVID-19 tests have been directly impacted by the wildfires.
The full extent of that impact wasn’t clear, but it could impact turnaround time for diagnostic tests.
Newsom also said 1,500 evacuees from the fires are currently sheltered in hotel rooms rather than congregate shelters due to COVID-19 social distancing protocols.
The shelters aren’t housing evacuees, but are performing health screenings. Newsom says the state’s working to get “as many air purifiers as we can” into those shelters, he said.
What’s the status of California’s county watchlist?
The CDPH monitoring list for counties, often referred to as the watchlist, was frozen by health officials from Aug. 1 to Aug. 16 due to a statewide data reporting problem, but officials resumed adding and removing counties at the start of last week.
Since then, there’s been plenty of activity, including some fast turnarounds.
Frozen in the first half of August at 38 counties that combined for 97% of the state, the list is now at 36 counties. Inyo and Mendocino counties were added and are still on the list. Mono, Napa, Orange, Placer, Santa Cruz and San Diego counties came off the list, all having spent several weeks on it. Calaveras and Sierra counties were removed after spending several days on the list, having been added last week.
Amador County is expected to follow soon, with state data showing it meeting all the necessary criteria for one day; counties are removed after three days under all watchlist thresholds. Amador, population 38,500, suffered a major outbreak at a skilled nursing facility beginning in late July, which led it to be added to the list last week, retroactive to July 25. New cases have slowed considerably since, state and county data show, and three patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Amador County, none reportedly in ICUs.
As for what removal from the watchlist actually means in practice, there’s still some uncertainty. Newsom and the state announced that counties off the list for three straight days are allowed to permit higher education campuses to reopen for in-person learning; after 14 days, they can let K-12 schools do the same. The state hasn’t yet provided guidelines, though, on what needs to happen for counties to let churches and certain business types reopen.
Rest of Sacramento region: Over 8,000 infected, 90 dead
The remainder of the six-county Sacramento region — El Dorado, Placer, Yolo and the Yuba-Sutter bi-county area — has combined for close to 8,000 lab-positive cases and 92 deaths.
Yolo County health officials have reported a total of 2,239 COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths. The county added 34 cases Monday. There were seven patients in hospitals in the county Monday, five of whom were in ICUs, according to state data. The county has six ICU beds remaining.
Yolo has seen outbreaks at several long-term care facilities, which account for 118 of its case total and 22 of its fatalities. Woodland’s Stollwood Convalescent Hospital reported an outbreak in April and it is still the most severe outbreak in the county. There, 66 people connected to the facility have been infected with coronavirus and 17 have died. The facility will close permanently in September.
A more recent outbreak reported last Wednesday at a long-term care facility, Gloria’s Country Care in Woodland, has left seven residents and nine staff infected. Two have been hospitalized, and none have died.
Placer County has reported 2,795 cases and 31 deaths as of a Monday afternoon update, adding 18 cases from Sunday’s tally. The county’s relatively low rate of transmission allowed it to be taken off of the state’s watchlist last week.
There were 44 people hospitalized in the county being treated specifically for COVID-19 as of Sunday, 15 of them in ICUs.
El Dorado County has reported 924 COVID-19 cases, with 28 new confirmations over the weekend. Two weeks ago, on Aug. 10, the county reported its second COVID-19 death. State data show one one patient infected with the virus in an El Dorado hospital, in an intensive care unit. The county has 10 available ICU beds.
El Dorado County remains the only county in the greater Sacramento area to have not been placed onto the state’s regional coronavirus watchlist.
Sutter County has reported a total of 1,260 cases and eight deaths, with one fatality reported over the weekend. Sixteen residents are being hospitalized in Sutter, four of whom are in the ICU.
In neighboring Yuba County, 859 people have been infected and four have died. Just two new cases were reported Sunday. Yuba has 10 residents hospitalized with the virus, three of them in the ICU.
World numbers: 811,000 dead, including 177,000 in U.S.
Over 23.5 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide, and 811,000 of them have died, data maintained by Johns Hopkins University showed as of Monday evening. About 177,000 of the deaths, 22% of the world total, have been in the United States.
The U.S. has also reported by far the highest number of cases at 5.7 million; Brazil and India are next highest at 3.6 million and 3.1 million, respectively. No other country has reached 1 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins.
Brazil is also next in death toll at more than 115,000 dead, followed by Mexico at over 60,000 and India at almost 58,000.
The United Kingdom’s count early last week was lowered by more than 5,000 after the government changed its methodology, The New York Times reported. The U.K. now shows more than 41,000 COVID-19 deaths.
More than 35,000 have died in Italy, over 30,000 in France, more than 28,000 in Spain, 27,000 in Peru and just over 20,000 in Iran. Colombia and Russia each have death tolls above 16,000, according to Johns Hopkins. Chile and South Africa are between 10,000 and 13,000 dead. Canada, Germany and Belgium have recorded more than 9,000 fatalities.
What is COVID-19? How is the coronavirus spread?
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: California reopening guidance coming, state passes 12,000 dead."
