Coronavirus updates: Sacramento region hits 1,000 cases; Newsom to discuss reopening plan

The coronavirus pandemic did not slow down over Easter weekend, with more than 15,000 additional deaths reported worldwide since Friday.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide was approaching 2 million on Monday evening, according to a Sacramento Bee survey of individual counties’ public health departments.

The four-county Sacramento region surpassed 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday. Health officials in those counties have reported a combined total of 36 deaths.

The United States on Saturday overtook Italy for total reported fatalities linked to COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious coronavirus. According to data by Johns Hopkins University, the coronavirus has killed more than 23,000 in the U.S. as of Monday evening, while just over 20,000 have died in Italy. After surpassing the 100,000 threshold Friday, over 119,000 have died worldwide.

California surpassed 700 reported deaths. Health officials have announced 726 deaths among more than 24,000 confirmed cases, according to the data.

County officials throughout the state reported 68 new deaths Saturday, tied for California’s most in a single day, and 42 on Easter.

Over 190,000 Californians had been tested for COVID-19 by Monday evening, according to Johns Hopkins.

With the entire state under a stay-at-home mandate ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom since March 19, churches across California that have been forced to cancel in-person congregations held their Good Friday and Easter Sunday services virtually, via live-streamed video. This month also marks Passover, which ends Thursday, and the beginning of Ramadan, which begins April 23 and lasts one month.

Newsom and other state leaders over the past week have said that while the state as a whole has done a good job following social distancing guidelines, and that early efforts are indeed flattening the pandemic’s growth curve meaning hospitals are not overburdened, it is essential that Californians keep up that good work to avoid a resurgence in cases.

An end in sight? Newsom says reopening plan is coming

Newsom during a daily news conference early Monday afternoon said he and the governors of Washington and Oregon are working on plans for the “incremental release of the stay-at-home orders” for the three West Coast states, and that on Tuesday he will announce a California-specific “bottom up” plan to ease statewide restrictions.

A more precise timeline, and specific details about which sectors of the economy and society may reopen first were not given Monday.

“We will be driven by facts, we will be driven by evidence, we will be driven by science, we will be driven by our public health advisers,” Newsom said.

Yolo County nursing home outbreak

Yolo County officials on Monday afternoon announced the county’s first coronavirus outbreak at a nursing home in Woodland, where 35 people have tested positive for COVID-19.

Those who have contracted the respiratory disease are 23 residents and 12 employees; one of them has since died from complications from COVID-19, according to a news release. Officials said testing is still ongoing for all employees.

Not all the confirmed cases at the nursing home are Yolo County residents. Officials did not release the name or the location of the nursing home, to “protect patient privacy,” they said in the news release.

Officials said residents at the nursing home and their families have been informed of the outbreak. They also said those at the nursing home who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been isolated, and the employees and residents are being monitored.

“I am deeply saddened to learn about another COVID-19 death and an outbreak in a nursing home,” Yolo County Public Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman said in the news release. “Nursing homes are at very high risk for COVID-19 outbreaks. In most nursing home outbreaks, the virus is introduced from visitors and staff. Unfortunately, this means that people need to stay at home and not visit their loved ones.”

As of Monday afternoon, Yolo County had 101 confirmed COVID-19 cases and four deaths from the disease.

More deaths in Sacramento region as it surpasses 1,000 confirmed cases

Sacramento County public health officials in a Monday morning update disclosed an additional death, the 27th so far in the county, and 32 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases. Placer County on Monday also added one death to its count, along with three new confirmed cases.

The four-county Sacramento region as of Monday evening has recorded 1,001 positive COVID-19 cases, compared with 604 on April 5.

El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties reported a combined total of 36 deaths as of Monday, up from the 20 reported eight days earlier on April 5. A week before that, only eight fatalities had been reported.

Sacramento County has reported 739 cases and 27 deaths, last updated Monday morning. Of the fatalities, 14 came in the city of Sacramento, three in Elk Grove, two in Citrus Heights and eight in unincorporated areas, the county says. The most recent death came in unincorporated territory.

COVID-19 cases by Zip code

Map: Nathaniel Levine • Source: Sacramento County

El Dorado County reports 34 cases, up from a total of 22 the previous Sunday. No deaths have been reported.

Placer County reports 127 cases and five deaths as of Monday, compared with 103 infections and three fatalities a week earlier. The county recently added an online dashboard for COVID-19 activity.

Yolo County has seen the biggest recent jump in confirmed cases, now at 101 compared with 37 one week earlier. Four fatalities have been reported, including the death of a resident at a nursing facility in Woodland where 35 people have been infected with COVID-19.

Where is your stimulus check?

Direct deposits for coronavirus stimulus checks reportedly started showing up in some bank accounts as of Saturday.

The Internal Revenue Service is sending $1,200 to Americans making less than $75,000 a year, plus $500 for each dependent child under a $2.2 trillion stimulus package for coronavirus relief.

People who make more than $75,000 a year will get less depending on their income. Married couples making less than $150,000 a year will receive $2,400 plus $500 for each dependent child.

The IRS had said it was hoping to start sending direct deposits out this week. A Treasury Department official said as many as 70 million Americans with direct deposit on file with the IRS could get money by this Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.

The first wave of payments will be direct deposits to people who listed their bank account information on their 2018 or 2019 tax returns.

For people who do not file taxes, the IRS has a portal set up so they can send their bank account information in to set up direct deposit of their money.

The IRS also plans to have a website soon so people will be able to check the status of their stimulus check. People who have not given their direct deposit to the IRS may have to wait weeks or months for a paper check to be mailed out.

California and the United States have each shattered records for unemployment claims over the past two weeks, as the coronavirus has effectively shut down entire sectors of the economy, such as hospitality.

Updated projections: Is California near its peak?

One widely cited model for coronavirus deaths, hospitalizations and resource use, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at University of Washington, in projections updated over the weekend suggested California’s “peak” could be right about now. According to this model, the date has moved forward, to Monday, from an earlier projection of late April.

State officials, however, have continued to maintain California’s peak will be a moment that could begin around mid-May and stretch for weeks. Newsom last week said the state’s models differ from others, such as the one from the University of Washington, because the state has more up-to-date data from hospital systems to refine its estimates.

The University of Washington institute’s model has nonetheless dramatically reduced its predicted death total for California. As of April 6, it projected 5,068; five days later, on Saturday, the model predicted approximately 1,616 deaths.

The institute initially projected deaths in California to drop off to near zero by the last week of June. The institute recently moved that projection to a cessation of deaths in early May.

Caltrans making most of empty freeways, speeds up projects

The state’s transportation department, Caltrans, is taking measures to get road work done quicker as the coronavirus has greatly reduced highway traffic.

Contractors are working during the day instead of at night, extending work hours and closing longer stretches of road at a time under temporary agreements with Caltrans and local agencies.

“Construction crews are still working on Caltrans projects while maintaining social distancing,” Caltrans spokesman Matt Rocco said in an emailed statement.

Traffic is down 36 percent on average in urban areas across California, Rocco said.

Coronavirus worldwide numbers: Approaching 2 million infections

More than 1.9 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed around the world as of Monday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins data map. With exponential growth rates continuing in multiple countries, the total is all but certain to reach 2 million early this week.

The U.S. has by far the highest confirmed infection count of any nation at more than 581,000. Spain is the second-highest with slightly more than 170,000 as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins.

The fatality toll has surpassed 20,000 in Italy, is near 17,800 in Spain, at just under 15,000 in France and has exceeded 11,000 in the United Kingdom. Iran has reported over 4,500 deaths, and almost 4,000 have died in Belgium.

The original epicenter of the virus, China has leveled at about 3,300 reported deaths. There have been 3,100 reported fatalities in Germany, another 2,800 in the Netherlands, about 1,300 in each of Brazil and Turkey and more than 1,100 in Switzerland, the Johns Hopkins map shows.

Within the United States, where more than 23,000 people have died from the coronavirus, more than 10,000 have died in New York State with over 7,300 of those deaths in New York City. New Jersey has had more than 2,400 fatalities among 64,000 total cases, according to Johns Hopkins. And over 1,600 have died in Michigan.

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 Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Vincent Moleski, Wes Venteicher and Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks; and McClatchy reporter Charles Duncan contributed to this report.

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