Coronavirus updates: Cases reach 5 million nationwide; more than 10,000 dead in California

Coronavirus cases in the United States officially surpassed 5 million over the weekend, marking a grim milestone just days after California passed 10,000 deaths Friday. California is the third state to pass a five-digit fatality count, and follows the state’s month-long increase of average COVID-19 fatalities.

Of the nation’s reported 5,022,187 cases, at least 162,696 have been fatal as of late Sunday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California is one of five states making up over 40 percent of the country’s infections at more than 538,000, leading Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia.

The state continues to be plagued by a widespread issue with the state’s electronic lab reporting system, the California Department of Public Health and county health officials throughout California say. This has led to an under reporting of new cases for at least the last week, though the technical issue does not appear to be affecting fatality-counts or hospitalizations.

The glitch has mired contact tracing and policies on school reopening, leaving counties unsure of how many residents have tested positive in recent days. The error has major implications for county policy decisions: while the glitch remains, the state has ceased adding or removing counties from coronavirus monitoring lists, which determine which businesses and schools can open.

Californians may see unemployment restored, but cut by at least $200

President Donald Trump on Saturday told the federal government to provide $300 in payments to the unemployed, and asked states to pick up the tab of an additional $100. It was not immediately clear whether payments will be delivered if states are unable to pay the one-fourth share, how long the funds will last or where the federal money is originating.

This $300 payment partially replaces a weekly, additional payment of $600 that was provided up until its expiration of July 31. Trump’s measure came after additional legislation stalled in Congress, leaving million of Californians left with their weekly unemployment checks cut by $600 since the beginning of the month.

Experts have expressed doubts of whether Trump’s measure will remain in the face of likely legal challenges — the Constitution says that the Congress, rather than the president, holds the power “to lay and collect taxes” in order “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and General Welfare of the United States.” But Trump maintained he was not concerned.

“You always get sued,” he said in a news conference over the weekend. “I was sued on a lot of things and we won.”

Virus spreads in prisons up and down the state

California’s state’s prison system has provided the coronavirus with a captive population in which to spread during the pandemic. Since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified earlier this year, more than 1,950 prison staff within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have contracted the virus.

And while 916 of those workers have recovered and returned to work, eight prison staffers have died from the disease, including two at prisons in Madera County. Among the more than 98,000 men and women incarcerated in state prisons in California as of Friday, 8,665 have tested positive for the virus, including 52 who have died. More than 1,000 of those infections have been detected within the past two weeks.

The latest death came Thursday at San Quentin State Prison, CDCR said. Complications from COVID-19 are believed to be the cause, authorities said. The inmate is the 24th at the Marin County facility to die from complications of the virus, according to the state’s tracker.

The prison system reports that almost 1,400 inmates statewide currently have active COVID-19 infections, while more than 6,900 have recovered. Additionally, about 300 inmates have been released from prison after fulfilling their sentence while still categorized with an active coronavirus infection.

Those releases don’t count thousands of other inmates released from custody to decompress the prison population. Under an initial round of releases in April, about 3,500 inmates who were within 60 days of their scheduled release — and not serving time for a violent crime — were set free.

In July, the system made additional releases. That included about 2,100 inmates whose awards of time off for good behavior moved up their release dates into July and 4,800 eligible inmates with six months or less left to serve.

The current statewide prison system population is down by more than 16,300 since March 11.The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported Thursday that of more than 128,000 incarcerated people and 36,000 staff at its institutions across the country, it has 1,544 inmates and 548 staff who currently have active coronavirus infections. One Bureau of Prisons staff member, and 110 federal inmates, have died from the disease.

Federal prisons nationwide have more than 9,200 inmates and 756 prison staff who have recovered from COVID-19.

Cases in Sacramento area reach at least 16,000, with 236 dead

The six-county Sacramento area which includes Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba has reported 236 coronavirus deaths and 16,973 confirmed cases.

Sacramento County passed 10,000 cases last weekend and has tallied 10,795 in total, with 300 new infections reported Thursday and 251 Friday. At least 161 residents have died, with nearly two dozen reported since Monday. One hundred and six who died were capital city residents, 10 in Citrus Heights, nine in Elk Grove, seven in Rancho Cordova, four in Galt, three in Folsom and 22 in unincorporated areas of the county. At least seven residents of the county died of COVID-19 over the first three days of August, health officials say.

County health officials in Placer and Sacramento have confirmed that cases in the county have been undercounts due to the statewide technical glitch affecting reported case numbers.

There are 250 COVID-19 patients currently in hospital beds across Sacramento County, according to Friday’s state health data. This marks a decrease by 12 from Thursday and down from a highest-recorded 281 on July 30. Eighty-one remain in the ICU, down from 88 a day earlier, with 12 ICU beds remaining.

Placer County has reported 2,282 cases and 21 deaths, with 96 new infections reported Sunday and 81 on Saturday. The county reported one death per day from Monday through Thursday. Sixty-six people are currently being treated for COVID-19 at Placer County hospitals, with 13 in the ICU.

Yolo County has reported 1,759 cases and 44 deaths. The county reported 38 cases and one death Sunday, after 31 cases were reported Saturday and 30 cases and one fatality were reported Friday.

El Dorado County has reported in total 729 cases and just one death from COVID-19. County officials reported 13 new cases Friday, with three positive cases in county hospitals and one of which being treated in an ICU. The county has 14 ICU beds available. El Dorado County, despite reporting its first death last month, remains the only county in the capital region to have not been placed onto the state’s regional coronavirus watchlist, reflecting its relatively low number of cases.

In Sutter County, 942 cases and seven deaths have been reported, with 22 cases reported Saturday and a record-setting 41 new cases added Wednesday. Sutter hospitals are currently caring for 15 with the virus, with six in the ICU.

Yuba County has reported 600 positive cases and four total deaths. Fourteen people in Yuba County were hospitalized as Saturday, with two in the ICU.

California health officials say colleges can reopen, with major limitations

California college and universities can re-open for in-person learning if local conditions are met, according to guidance released Friday by the California Department of Public Health.

A phased reopening will depend on epidemiological trends, the availability of both college and community COVID-19 testing resources, and college and public health’s capacity to investigate cases and outbreaks. The 34-page document also outlined restrictions on dining, dormitory living and lectures.

“As colleges and other institutions of higher education plan to resume in-person instruction, it’s critical that campuses make modifications to reduce risk,” California epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said via statement. “This guidance aims to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our students, families, and the communities where they study.”

Indoor lectures are prohibited for colleges in counties on the state monitoring list for three or more days in a row. Additionally, campuses must provide officials with COVID-19 prevention plans, spaced student seating and living quarters, limit travel to and from campus, limit non-essential activities, provide “grab-and-go” meals to replace indoor dining and close non-essential shared spaces.

College athletic competitions are allowed between different teams without fans, but only if the institution can provide COVID-19 tests and subsequent results within 72 hours of a high-contact sport competition.

All game attendees, like staff, media coaches and players not in the game must wear masks. Practice is permitted only if COVID-19 testing is available on a regular and periodic basis.

University of California system requires flu shots for community members

The University of California system announced Friday that students, faculty and staff will be required to receive flu shots before Nov. 1, though those with approved medical exemptions will fly this requirement. Community members can also file for exemptions due to religious beliefs or disability.

The measure came after school administration consulted with the UC Health leadership, seeking ways to lessen strains on the healthcare system amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The executive order is an important proactive measure to help protect members of the UC community — and the public at large — and to ameliorate the severe burdens on health care systems anticipated during the coming fall and winter from influenza and COVID-19 illnesses,” the UC system said in a statement earlier this week.

Incoming UC students have long had immunization requirements before arriving on campus, but the flu vaccination comes as a new requirement. School medical plans or Affordable Care Act-compliant health plans will cover the vaccination without copay.

Positive test also reveals heart ailment for NFL player with local ties

Cameron Smith, a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings by way of Granite Bay High School and USC, has announced that he will sit out this NFL campaign due to a congenital heart condition doctors found after he tested positive for COVID-19.

He wrote on Instagram on Saturday that he will undergo open-heart surgery in the coming weeks to fix a bicuspid aortic valve that he was born with. His aim is to return to football action. To understand Smith’s relentless drive is to lead one to believe him. He shall return.

Smith wrote on his social media post, “It is really a blessing that we found this as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I could really feel him on this one. By no means am I ready to be done playing football. I’m going to attack this like everything else I have in life.”

Smith was a three-year starting linebacker at Granite Bay. He was a three-time first-team Bee All-Metro performer who was a no-brainer to land on The Bee’s All-Decade Team. He helped engineer Granite Bay’s CIF State Division I championship season in 2012, punctuated by a late rally to topple nationally ranked Long Beach Poly.

Smith graduated at midyear his senior season to enroll at USC, where he was a four-year starter and graduated among the program’s all-time career tackling leaders with 354 stops. He earned All-Pac-12 honors three times and bypassed the NFL draft after his junior campaign to play one more season because, as he told The Bee during Pac-12 Media Day, “I love this too much.”

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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 people 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.

The Sacramento Bee’s Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Joe Davidson, Noel Harris, Michael McGough and Andrew Sheeler, The Fresno Bee’s Tim Sheehan and McClatchy DC’s David Lightman contributed to this story.