Coronavirus updates: California nearing 200,000 cases after one-day record of 7,100

Sacramento County reported only about half as many new coronavirus cases Wednesday as it did on a record-setting Tuesday, but soaring COVID-19 activity in the capital region and across California remains concerning to health officials and government leaders.

The state for a second straight day smashed a daily record for new infections, reporting 7,149 new cases in Wednesday’s update after Tuesday’s 5,019 had set an all-time high. California now reports over 190,000 infections since the start of the pandemic.

Death figures have remained more stable, with 52 added Wednesday for a toll of 5,632.

The statewide hospitalization total surpassed 4,000 for the first time as of Wednesday’s update, a staggering 33 percent increase since June 14. The hospitalization total grew by 227 in one day, the biggest increase so far.

Gov. Gavin Newsom during a news conference Wednesday said California’s hospitals remain at about 8 percent of their full capacity.

ICU patients with confirmed COVID-19 also hit a record high, with 1,268 receiving intensive care across California as of Wednesday’s update.

Sacramento County disclosed 66 new cases in its most recent update, significantly fewer than the 131 infections reported Tuesday but still more than any day in May and the vast majority of April.

A total of 2,440 people across the county have been infected with the virus as of Wednesday morning. Approximately 822 of those infections can be considered active, with the county reporting 66 dead and 1,552 “likely recovered.”

The most recent COVID-19 fatality occurred June 12; it was disclosed by the health department June 17.

Amid the recent spike, which local health officials have so far said can be largely attributed to indoor gatherings in which groups of friends or extended family members are ignoring social distancing and mask protocols, Sacramento County reported more than 80 cases Monday and over 90 on each of Saturday and Sunday.

According to the county’s data dashboard, which groups infections by “episode date” — that is, the earliest date to which the county can track each positive case, whether that be via diagnostic testing, hospitalization or death — June 16-19 represented by far the biggest surge in new infections to this point in the pandemic.

Peaking with 96 new cases on June 17, those four days saw 330 COVID-19 cases emerge across the county, nearly 14 percent of the pandemic’s three-month total in less than one week. For comparison, the first four days of May brought only 22 new cases, less than 1 percent of the all-time tally.

Sacramento County has 50 patients in hospital beds and 18 in the ICU, with each figure near its highest point since late April, state data show.

A Sacramento Bee analysis of testing numbers published Wednesday shows that while California is testing more people, the positive test result rates also increased in 38 of the state’s 58 counties between June 10 and June 22, including in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo. Increased positive test rates mean the virus is spreading to more people.

“This is far from over,” state Public Health Officer Dr. Sonia Angell said in an email to The Bee on Tuesday.

Newsom can withhold funds from counties breaking pandemic rules

An allocation of between $750 million and $1 billion to counties for social safety net programs, included in the recent budget deal that’s expected to be approved by the state Legislature in the coming week, includes language that makes the funds dependent on counties’ adherence to federal guidance on COVID-19 and the state’s stay-at-home order. That includes the mandatory, statewide mask order that was issued and took effect last Thursday.

Newsom’s Department of Finance is in charge of determining whether counties are compliant. Department spokesman H.D. Palmer said tying funding to compliance with the state is an effort to bolster California’s fight against the coronavirus.

Assemblyman James Gallagher in a statement criticized the governor, writing that the policy is equivalent to the funds “being held hostage.”

Adherence to and enforcement of social distancing protocols within Newsom’s stay-at-home order, which has been gradually loosened since mid-May for most of the state as many different types of businesses have been allowed to reopen with modifications, have at times been a point of contention.

Mostly prior to the governor’s office allowing “regional variance” in its reopening plan, letting some counties ease their economies back open faster than others, a few mostly rural counties had outright defied the state order.

The Sutter-Yuba bicounty health office, for instance, allowed a number of businesses like shopping malls, dine-in restaurants and barbershops to reopen in mid-May, ahead of the state’s permission to do so. Currently, those two counties are in compliance with the state.

The face covering mandate has also proved divisive. The mayor of Nevada City, in a controversial social media post Saturday, wrote that “there is NO LAW that Orders you to Wear a Mask,” claiming that Newsom does not have “unilateral power to make such orders.”

Meanwhile, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, along with many other law enforcement agencies in the capital region, have explicitly said they will not be enforcing the mask mandate. Yolo County says it will focus its enforcement efforts toward non-complying businesses rather than individuals. The state’s mask order does not reference whether police and sheriff’s deputies are required to enforce it.

Newsom’s administration wields more direct power in enforcing health orders upon businesses that require state licenses. This includes bars and restaurants licensed by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, barbers and cosmetologists, and the state’s 73 card rooms.

However, local health officials say enforcement on the general public isn’t really the point. The very existence of the governor’s order is prompting more people to wear masks, according to Sacramento County health services director Dr. Peter Beilenson.

“The bottom line is, mandating it is making it the cultural norm,” he said.

Masks required at some casinos on Nevada side of Tahoe

Two Lake Tahoe casinos began requiring customers to wear masks Wednesday as the spread of COVID-19 continues.

The policy went into effect at noon at Harrah’s and Harveys Lake Tahoe, both owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp. Caesars announced the same policy for all of its casinos in the U.S. and Canada.

Some but not all of northern Nevada’s casinos have mandated that their customers wear masks. The Silver Legacy and Eldorado casinos in Reno, for instance, require them but only for customers playing table games like poker.

Caesars’ announcement comes a week after Newsom’s order made masks mandatory for all Californians in most indoor shared spaces, with limited exemptions.

Most Indian casinos in California have implemented mandatory mask policies for their customers, including Thunder Valley, Hard Rock and others in the Sacramento area. Cache Creek is offering a free mask with the casino’s logo for customers who earn enough rewards points.

Sacramento July 4 fireworks show at Cal Expo canceled

Cal Expo announced Wednesday morning that Sacramento’s annual fireworks show at the fairgrounds is officially off in 2020.

The decision is unsurprising given that Cal Expo says about 30,000 attend the Independence Day celebration every year. Gatherings that big have been canceled since mid-March and will be among the last to return, Newsom says.

Cal Expo also cited financial uncertainty in its announcement of the cancellation.

The venue will be offering a special menu on July 3 as part of its “Fair Food To Go” program, which has been offering food and desserts usually sold at the also-canceled State Fair on a takeout basis.

All main, official fireworks displays in the Sacramento area are now off. Davis became the first city to cancel its show and July 4 festivities, announcing so in late April.

Latest in Sacramento area: 100 dead, more than 3,500 infected

Including Sacramento County’s 2,440 infections and 66 fatalities, the four-county capital region has surpassed 3,500 total cases and stands at exactly 100 deaths as of Wednesday morning.

Placer County health officials report a total of 556 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 10 of them have died, with figures last updated Wednesday morning. The county reported 22 new infections Wednesday, its second-highest daily increase of the pandemic, after 28 were reported June 18.

Placer on Tuesday reported its first coronavirus death since May 22, with that person having died Sunday, a county spokesperson said. Ten patients are hospitalized, with three of them in the ICU.

Yolo County reported 20 cases Wednesday for a new daily high, surpassing the 19 cases reported Tuesday and the 17 confirmations Monday and April 6. Woodland reported 16 of Wednesday’s cases, with three in West Sacramento and one in Winters. A total of 386 coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the county and 24 people have died. Of those deaths, 17 have been connected to an outbreak at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland.

El Dorado County on Wednesday afternoon reported three new COVID-19 cases, bringing its total to 153 cases and no deaths related to the virus. More than half those cases, 79, stem from the Lake Tahoe area. The county on Monday reported 15 new cases from over the weekend.

Just outside of the four-county capital region, Sutter County health officials reported seven new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday for a total of 125 infections and three deaths from the virus. On Monday, Sutter County reported six new COVID-19 cases. Yuba County did not report any new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Yuba County reported one new case Monday and has a total of 43 infections and one dead from the virus. While the numbers in these counties remain small, infection rates have been increasing.

U.S., global infection and death tolls on rise

More than 482,000 people have died from COVID-19 worldwide, nearly 122,000 of them in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. accounted for about 2.38 million of the world’s more than 9.4 million infections as of Wednesday evening. Brazil is next at more than 1.18 million infections and a death toll of 53,800.

The United Kingdom reports more than 43,000 dead, followed by Italy at nearly 35,000, France at nearly 30,000, Spain at over 28,000 and Mexico with over 23,000.

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.

Sacramento Bee reporters Rosalio Ahumada, Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Dale Kasler and Hannah Wiley contributed to this report.

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