Coronavirus updates: Barbershops, hair salons can reopen in most of California, Newsom says
California’s gradual reopening from the coronavirus shutdown continued this week, with health leaders announcing protocols Monday for places of worship and retail stores to reopen statewide, with modifications.
Gov. Gavin Newsom begin a midday news conference Tuesday by announcing that most of the state’s counties — the nearly four dozen approved to accelerate within Phase 2 — can may begin to reopening hair salons and barbershops, which have been classified as Phase 3 businesses. Nail salons will have to wait, the governor said.
The state has released a 10-page set of guidelines for businesses ready to give haircuts in 47 counties that have filed attestation plans with the state.
Churches will be allowed to reopen, with the approval of their county health offices, at either 25 percent of their usual capacity or a maximum of 100 people, whichever is lower, the state Department of Public Health in a news release on Memorial Day.
Places of worship will also be required to establish written COVID-19 prevention plans; set physical distancing guidelines; implement rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocol; recommend that staff and congregants wear face coverings; and screen staff for fevers and other symptoms.
A 13-page set of guidelines detail more rules and regulations, which include the strong recommendation that churches should “set parameters around or consider eliminating singing and group recitations,” which Monday’s news release claims “dramatically increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”
As for retailers, the same requirements given to the 47 counties approved for accelerated reopening will now apply in all 58 of California’s counties, which include a requirement that businesses have an intervention plan in the event a worker tests positive for COVID-19. Dine-in restaurant service is still limited to the counties on that list of 47, which Sacramento County joined late last week.
Personal service businesses like salons and barbershops, and other venues seen as carrying a higher risk for virus transmission, such as fitness centers and movie theaters, remain shuttered statewide until the state reaches Phase 3 of reopening.
“CA has continued to flatten the curve because folks are staying home, practicing physical distancing, and taking this seriously,” Newsom tweeted Monday as he shared the new church and retail guidelines. “Let’s keep it up.”
At least 3,814 people in California have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious coronavirus, and more than 96,500 lab-confirmed cases have been documented, according to a Bee survey of counties’ health departments. More than half of the total deaths, at least 2,116, have come in Los Angeles County.
Only 21 new deaths were reported between Sunday and Monday’s updates and just 19 between Monday and Tuesday, which represent the two lowest, single-day increases for the state since March 30, according to data tracked by the state.
Daily fatality totals have fluctuated, though. Deaths spiked earlier last week: After only 32 deaths were reported May 18, the state observed 102 and 106 new deaths, respectively, in the following two days.
Black patients diagnosed later than white peers, Sutter data show
Data observed by Sutter Health suggest that black patients are much more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 at a later stage of the illness than white patients.
According to data reviewed by Dr. Stephen Lockhart, African Americans were almost three times more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to learn they had the illness through an emergency room or hospital test.
The black patients also were far more likely to be admitted for care. The disparities persisted after adjusting for an increased incidence of diabetes, congestive heart failure and other comorbidities.
In a paper published this week in the journal Health Affairs, Lockhart, research scientist Kristen Azar and other researchers who studied the data say it’s a distinct possibility that societal factors are creating barriers to accessing care or creating circumstances that result in delayed care.
State data has shown that African Americans are dying of COVID-19 at disproportionately high rates when compared with their representation in the population. African Americans represent about 6 percent of California’s population, but have so far made up about 10.2 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
The Sutter research looked at 1,052 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 between Jan. 1 and April 8. Sutter used electronic health records for its patients to allow researchers to track race or ethnicity, sex, age, health and socioeconomic information.
UC Davis ‘isn’t a park,’ university says, citing damage to wildlife reserve
University of California, Davis, in a “note to the public” asked visitors to stop using rural parts of its sprawling campus for recreation during the coronavirus pandemic, saying habitats are being damaged and wildlife impacted, especially within the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve.
“The Putah Creek Riparian Reserve is a teaching and research natural area, first and foremost,” Andrew Fulks, assistant director of UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, said in a news release. “People are allowed in some areas for passive recreation, but they need to remember it isn’t a park, and human impacts hurt not only the environment, but active research and class use.”
The university news release goes on to say that increased use by the public has led to erosion due to tree rope swings, and that parking areas near the reserve have overflowed with cars, which has led university officials to to consider implementing more parking limitations.
Officials are also noticing violations of social distancing rules, and many dogs being walked with no leash.
“The amount of off-leash dog activity has exceeded anything I’ve seen before,” JP Marie, reserve manager, said in a statement.
“Perhaps most distressing are the wildlife impacts, with people observed destroying bird boxes that are part of the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway,” the news release continues.
UC Davis says that since the start of coronavirus-related shelter-in-place orders in mid-March, officials have found seven gopher snakes on the reserve “with fatal wounds consistent with human-caused mortality.”
Mandatory testing for all staff at prison, site of outbreak
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will begin mandatory coronavirus testing for all staff at the California Institution for Men in Chino this week, following significant outbreaks there.
As of Saturday afternoon, CIM had reported 628 confirmed cases of coronavirus among inmates and six deaths due to COVID-19. That represents more than half of the state’s 1,101 inmates who have tested positive, and all of the state’s confirmed inmate deaths due to coronavirus. Fifty-eight employees at CIM had COVID-19 as of that time, and 35 of those have returned to work.
In an email obtained by The Sacramento Bee, CDCR officials said that all employees will be tested three days per week for the next three weeks. Staff were notified of the testing requirements last Friday.
American River packed during hot holiday weekend
Sacramento County park rangers estimate that bigger crowds than usual flocked to the American River during this year’s Memorial Day weekend.
Tens of thousands hit the waterway and beaches to raft, swim or otherwise enjoy the sun.
The combination of coronavirus restrictions limiting a number of indoor recreation options — with movie theaters, most tribal casinos in the greater Sacramento area and Arden Fair mall still closed — and a 99-degree afternoon high no doubt helped pack the beaches and river.
Adherence to social distancing measures was not evident everywhere, and most did not wear masks.
Park rangers put an emphasis on alcohol consumption violations, and were not enforcing COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.
“We’re looking for voluntary compliance on the health orders,” Sgt. Paul Nanfito said. “It’s supposed to be families only on the rafts and it’s up to the raft companies to make that assertation. We’re hitting the alcohol violations very, very hard this weekend. We’ve been issuing citations for alcohol at just about every access.”
Data tracked by Sacramento County Regional Parks reflects park rangers’ choice of voluntary compliance and warnings over enforcement. In a monthly ranger activity report, the county says six of 35 reports called in to 311 for rangers’ jurisdiction for April were related to COVID-19 or social distancing concerns, but no citations were issued for those potential violations.
Only one social distancing related complaint was called in at a county park during March, but the county and statewide stay-at-home orders did not go into place until March 19.
Latest in Sacramento area: 87 dead, only 1 in past week
The four-county Sacramento region had a total of 1,778 COVID-19 cases and 87 deaths as of Monday, with another 70 COVID-19 cases and three deaths reported in nearby Sutter and Yuba counties. Only one death among those six counties has been reported in the past week, coming Friday in Placer County.
As of Tuesday morning, Sacramento County health officials reported 1,310 infections — up by eight from Monday’s update — and 56 deaths. The county’s last reported death came May 18.
Yolo County reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and four new cases on Monday. The county has a total of 200 cases and 22 deaths related to the virus. Of those deaths, 15 have been connected to the Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland.
Placer County reported one new confirmed COVID-19 case on Monday and three Tuesday morning; the county has a total 188 cases and nine deaths. The county’s first death in more than a month was reported Friday, the same day the county reported eight new COVID-19 cases. Friday’s spike in new cases was the biggest since May 2, when the county reported nine new cases, according to county data.
El Dorado County reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and four new cases on Monday; the county has a total of 80 cases and no deaths related to the virus. The county reported seven new cases on Friday, which were all from household contacts with an earlier positive case.
Sutter County reported no new cases on Tuesday, but it had two new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday. The county has reported a total of 42 COVID-19 cases and two deaths related to the virus.
Yuba County reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. The county has reported a total of 28 COVID-19 cases and one death related to the virus.
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World, US numbers: Global death toll nears 350,000
The worldwide total for confirmed COVID-19 infections has surpassed 5.5 million, and over 349,000 of those patients have died, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. death toll was near 99,000 on Tuesday evening and appears on track to reach the 100,000 mark sometime this week. Of those, nearly 30,000 have died in New York state, over 11,000 in New Jersey, 6,400 in Massachusetts and just over 5,000 in each of Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Another roughly 4,900 have died of coronavirus complications in Illinois, followed by California with over 3,800 deaths, and Connecticut at almost 3,800 fatalities. Louisiana, Maryland, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Virginia and Washington state range from 1,000 to 3,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.
The U.S. death toll is followed by four European countries: the United Kingdom, where more than 37,000 have died; Italy, which reports close to 33,000 deaths; over 28,500 deaths in France; and more than 27,000 in Spain.
Brazil, where infections and deaths are growing rapidly, has now suffered more than 24,000 COVID-19 deaths. About 391,000 have tested positive there, according to Johns Hopkins, second only to the United States’ 1.66 million.
After Brazil, between 5,000 and 10,000 deaths have been reported in each of the Netherlands, Canada, Iran, Germany and Belgium, according to Johns Hopkins data.
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, Cathie Anderson, Jason Anderson and Vincent Moleski contributed to this report. Listen to our daily briefing:
