Coronavirus updates: At least 13 dead in California, quarter of state told to stay home

The public health danger of the coronavirus pandemic and its affliction on virtually all aspects of everyday life at the state, national and global levels are unlikely to subside anytime soon.

That was part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s message to Californians, delivered in a Tuesday afternoon press conference in which reporters asked their questions over the phone in yet another example of social distancing.

Newsom warned parents statewide that “few, if any” public K-12 schools would reopen before their planned summer breaks. About 98.8 percent of California’s 6.2 million students are already home from school because of efforts to slow the outbreak, he said, and his administration is seeking permission from the federal government to suspend standardized testing.

The school closures are just one part of an unprecedented campaign to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, which by Wednesday morning had infected more than 200,000 people worldwide and about 6,500 in the United States, where more than 115 people have died. At least 13 of those deaths have come in California, state public health officials confirmed a day earlier.

Health experts worldwide are increasingly warning that COVID-19 will overwhelm hospital systems and lead to millions of additional deaths or more if drastic measures, including social distancing and self-isolation, are not implemented quickly and adhered to.

One recent, very grim scientific report projected that without action by government and the public in the U.S., a surge in coronavirus cases could hit hospitals in the summer and that 2.2 million Americans could die, according to reporting by the New York Times.

Newsom late Monday issued an executive order strongly calling for all public gatherings of any size to be postponed; for restaurants to transition to delivery or takeout service only; and for bars, nightclubs, gyms and many other business not essential to public health or sanitation to temporarily close. Seven Bay Area counties, making up over 7 million people, had already legally mandated a “shelter in place” order, meaning residents may only leave home for essential purposes such as grocery shopping.

Sacramento County on Tuesday issued a “stay at home” directive, stopping just short of a legal order but effectively instructing residents to stay at home unless they have essential chores that require leaving the house. The city of Davis made a similar recommendation earlier in the day.

UC Davis suspends operations; Yolo, Placer county say ‘stay home’

Following directives issued by Sacramento, Yolo and Placer county health officials urging residents stay home, UC Davis announced Wednesday it would suspend operations effective immediately.

In-person classes should stop, and all instruction would have to be delivered remotely moving forward. Researchers are expected to ramp down noncritical on-site work. To complete online final exams, the library, computer labs, study spaces and classrooms will remain open through Sunday, March 22.

The suspension of operations does not have a specific end date, but includes a note that “employees should assume they will work from home through April 7, unless they hear otherwise from their managers.”

Picnic Day, the celebratory spring open house in April for the school that draws more than 50,000 annually, was canceled earlier this month, as UC Davis aimed to reduce the spread of the virus.

A UC Davis student got tested for the novel coronavirus last month after they were exposed to someone who had tested positive, causing some anxiety among the nearly 40,000 students on campus. The student tested ultimately did not have the virus.

Two deaths reported in San Joaquin, 6th death in Santa Clara

San Joaquin County in California’s Central Valley in a noon update to its COVID-19 webage disclosed its first two coronavirus deaths, and said the total number of confirmed infections there has risen to 14.

Earlier Wednesday, Santa Clara County public health officials in a news release announced that a patient who was hospitalized with COVID-19 on March 5 died Tuesday. The patient was an man in his 60s, the county said.

Santa Clara remains an epicenter for coronavirus activity within California. The death represents a state-high sixth in the county, which had reported 155 total confirmed cases as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, in an update that did not include the recent fatality. More than 55 of those cases are hospitalized, the county says.

At least 13 deaths in California as state updates numbers

The California Department of Public Health says there are nearly 600 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state, and at least 13 people have died from the virus, as of a Wednesday morning update.

Of 574 cases not related to repatriation flights, the cause for 253 of the infections remain under investigation; another 142 are believed to be community acquired; 91 were associated with recent travel; and the final 88 involved person-to-person contact with a known case.

The 13 dead include 12 California resident and one non-California resident, the state says.

Nearly 25% of California under shelter-in-place

As of early Wednesday morning, mandatory shelter-in-place orders are in effect in 11 counties: San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties gave the order Monday, and Sacramento, Monterey, Sonoma and San Benito counties did the same Tuesday. Ventura County on Tuesday issued a shelter-in-place for older residents only, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Put together the orders and advisories make up 23 percent, nearly a quarter, of California’s population: about 9.2 million of the state’s roughly 40 million people, according to Bee estimates. The Times, which reported other large-scale restrictions imposed in Southern California counties. Orange and San Bernardino counties have banned all gatherings; Los Angeles and San Diego counties have banned gatherings of 50 or more; and Riverside County has banned gatherings of 10 or more.

What’s the situation for California’s state workers?

Newsom did not give further guidance for state workers, many of whom had still been required to report to work at offices in Sacramento County and the Bay Area, during his Tuesday press conference.

The California Department of Human Resources on Wednesday morning emailed state government personnel offices and union representatives with guidelines regarding telecommuting.

The email includes a list of “critical functions that the public will expect the government to continue providing,” considered “as a guide and not as an exhaustive list.” These included:

• “Government Leadership

• Emergency Management

• Social Services/Education

• Information Technology/ Communication

• Public Safety

• Medical/Health

• Critical Infrastructure

• Food Supply

• Environmental Protection

• Public Information,” the email said.

“Effective immediately departments should establish a staff management plan that allows for effective social distancing for those in the office, takes into consideration stay-at-home directives from state and local public health departments, and protects the health of employees over the entire length of this crisis,” the email continued. “This plan must ensure that mission critical (“critical”) functions and services are maintained, consistent with public health needs arising from this emergency.”

Prior to Wednesday morning, some departments had granted broad permission for remote work, while others had withheld it from most workers, state workers have told The Sacramento Bee.

Newsom warns of strain on California hospitals

The governor on Tuesday said that the state’s current hospital surge capacity, which is about 90,000, falls thousands of beds short of what is projected to be needed as COVID-19 cases continue to grow at an exponential rate.

State leaders will move to expand doctors’ scope of practice to let more of them to treat patients with the disease caused by the coronavirus, Newsom said. Hospitals also plan to repurpose some operating rooms as intensive care units to treat COVID-19 patients, he said.

The administration will use part of a $1 billion appropriation he and the Legislature approved for emergency coronavirus response to rent two large hospitals, one in Northern California and the other in Southern California, Newsom said.

Hospitals postponing elective surgery

Three major health providers in the Sacramento region — Dignity Health, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente — said Tuesday that they will postpone elective surgeries and procedures to maintain capacity necessary for critical patients as the coronavirus crisis continues to escalate and strain the systems.

Jan Emerson-Shea, the chief spokesperson for the California Hospital Association, said hospitals throughout the state already have postponed elective procedures and surgeries or are considering doing so.

“Elective doesn’t mean it’s not medically necessary, but if there are situations where procedures can be safely rescheduled to a later date, that’s a strategy that many hospitals across the state are looking at doing,” Emerson-Shea said.

“We are going to still have people who need heart surgery or cancer treatments or people who are going to have babies,” Emerson-Shea continued. “We have to ensure the health care system remains strong and operational for everyone, whether you have COVID-19 or not.”

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Business closures pile up as Sacramento County urges stay-at-home

Several major Sacramento-area establishments closed or announced plans to close this week in response to the coronavirus pandemic and/or the directives by the governor and county leaders. Several local mainstay restaurants, including Tower Cafe and Ella Dining Room and Bar, had voluntarily shut down in-restaurant dining as of Monday evening, prior to the county stay-at-home order.

As part of that order, the California Capitol has officially closed to the public until further notice.

Arden Fair mall, which has 165 stores that employ more than 1,000 workers total, closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday and is now closed indefinitely, until public health officials say it is safe to reopen, a mall spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee.

The weekly Sacramento News & Review announced it is suspending print publication, and it will lay off nearly all of its employees next week.

Many of the region’s major gym chains, including locally based California Family Fitness and nationwide 24 Hour Fitness, have temporarily closed all of their locations. Others, like Crunch Fitness, have closed in states that have mandated health club closures due to coronavirus.

The Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Sacramento has ceased normal operations, “is not currently accepting room, restaurant, bar, or other reservations for dates before May 10,” according to its website.

Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln announced early Tuesday it would cease operations Friday, and Red Hawk Casino said it would close at 6 a.m. Wednesday. The two tribal casinos had previously planned to stay open but with a number of measures intended to increase sanitation and social distancing. Harrah’s in Ione is also closing.

Other gambling card rooms are also shutting down for now. Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights and Capitol Casino in Sacramento said they would close Wednesday. Parkwest Casino in Rancho Cordova and the Limelight in midtown Sacramento have already closed.

Schools begin to extend school closures

The El Dorado County Office of Education announced Wednesday it will extend the closure of all its public schools through the district’s upcoming spring break, which ends April 10 for some districts, and April 17 for others. The county public health officer and the districts urged families to prepare for closures to last longer, a day after Newsom predicted schools may stay closed through summer break.

There are currently no diagnosed cases of coronavirus in El Dorado County.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates on the status of closures,” read the statement. “The El Dorado County Public Health Division expects to begin seeing positive cases in the coming days and weeks, which may require a continued response. During the time of the school closure, we are asking that students and families follow the County Public Health Officer’s directive to stay home and minimize social contact to the extent possible.”

Latest U.S. and global coronavirus numbers

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of Wednesday morning shows the worldwide, confirmed number of coronavirus infections nearing 205,000, with more than 8,200 deaths. More than 31,500 of the confirmed cases and 2,500 of the deaths have come in Italy.

Mainland China has more than 81,000 cases, but has seen the rate of increase slow significantly, with that number staying relatively stable for several days. Iran has exceeded 17,000, Spain is approaching 14,000, Germany has passed 10,000, South Korea is near 8,400 and France is at about 7,700. Next on the list is the United States at just over 6,500.

The Johns Hopkins map shows 13 deaths for California, up two from the state’s official count of 11 as of Tuesday, and has tracked 118 deaths across the U.S., of which 55 are in Washington state

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Reminder: What is COVID-19? How is coronavirus spread?

Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within six 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.

Sacramento Bee reporters Rosalio Ahumada, Cathie Anderson, Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Theresa Clift, Benjy Egel, Dale Kasler, Sawsan Morrar, Sam Stanton, Wes Venteicher, Hannah Wiley and Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks contributed to this report.