On Wednesday, California became the first state in the country to approve 2 million cases of coronavirus in the pandemic, an unenviable milestone reached even when the state’s intensive care capacity was almost at its limit and public health officials begged to the people to cancel the holiday meetings.
Only 1.1% of intensive care beds in California were available on Wednesday, and availability in the Bay Area dropped to 11.4%, the lowest level since the state began reporting daily capacity on December 3. Both Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley were above capacity for the sixth consecutive day.
“Our reality is pretty bleak at the moment,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County health officer, at a news conference on Wednesday. She said 35 intensive care beds were available for the entire county, and eight out of 10 hospitals had less than five ICU beds left.
“We had a significant increase around Thanksgiving, despite the fact that we beg our community not to travel and not get together,” said Cody. “We are facing a very, very difficult and dangerous time in our municipality. All of our numbers are going in the wrong direction. “
Santa Clara County has posted on Twitter its most urgent demand so far for people to skip traditional Christmas celebrations: “Requests to stay home say you should stay home except for essential activities, and meet with people outside your home is not allowed. Even outdoors. Even on holidays. Even without symptoms. “
It is now clear from case and hospital reports that counties across the state recorded significant spikes in Thanksgiving-related infections. It took California 10 months to accumulate its first million cases, but only six weeks to reach the next million – a result of the fall and winter wave that hit the state.
But on Christmas Eve, it seemed that many people were not responding to calls from public health officials to stay home for the holidays. Airports have been busier in recent days than at any other time in the pandemic, according to national data. And in Sonoma County, public health officials said a tribal casino planned to host a New Year’s party for thousands of guests.
Political and public health leaders said the Thanksgiving tide seems to be easing somewhat, but they fear that another sudden increase after the holiday will strangle hospitals. The state may experience “a sudden increase after a sudden increase, unless we are careful and attentive,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in an interview on Wednesday.
“The most important message we can communicate today is to do everything in our power to mitigate the spread in this very vulnerable period of time,” said Newsom. “Because this virus loves social events. This virus thrives in that atmosphere. “
Cases and deaths
California reported more than 44,000 cases on Wednesday, reaching 2,008,717 in total since the first infections were identified in January. Texas has the second highest total, with about 1.6 million cases on Wednesday. California is more populous, however, and Texas has more cases per 100,000 residents: 5,900 to 5,100 in California.
There are signs that at least the post-Thanksgiving slump is starting to subside, and that the regional order to stay at home in California, which took effect in the vast majority of the state two and a half weeks ago, may be undermining the spread of the disease.
The statewide positive test rate – a marker of how widespread the virus is – dropped slightly, from a seven-day average from 13.3% on Monday to 12.3% on Wednesday, officials said. public health. And the rate of increase in cases reported every day has dropped slightly.
“There are some signs that we may be getting a leveling rather than a sharp rate of increase,” said Dr. Erica Pan, a California health officer, on Wednesday during a state vaccine committee meeting.
But California is still driving the national increase, with a much higher case rate than the US average. The state is reporting about 115 cases per 100,000 residents per day, on average, in the past week, compared with about 65 cases per 100,000 across the country. The bay area fares much better, with about 54 cases per 100,000 residents reported daily, but that number continues to rise steadily.
Both California and the Bay Area reported an almost record number of deaths on Tuesday: 378 for the state and 42 for the region. The state averaged 259 deaths a day last week, compared with 65 a day a month ago.
In Santa Clara County, the week before Thanksgiving Day, an average of three people died each day from COVID-19, public health officials said. Now, more than eight people die each day.
“If we see another outbreak coming over Christmas, New Year and holidays, we are going to be in an extraordinary crisis,” said Santa Clara County Councilor James Williams at Wednesday’s meeting.
Hospitals and intensive care
Nearly 18,500 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized in California on Tuesday, about 10,000 more than they were hospitalized three weeks ago on December 1.
About 3,800 of these patients were in intensive care, an increase of 90% since the beginning of the month. Newsom said 55% of all people in intensive care across the state have COVID-19. About a third of all hospitalized people have COVID-19.
The state opened four field hospitals – in Imperial, Orange, Sacramento and Tulare counties – to help care for an excessive influx of patients, and Newsom said another one will open in San Diego County this week. He said 950 state officials were assigned to 25 counties to provide support for overworked health professionals.
In affected Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, many hospitals have expanded intensive care wards or set up tents.
In Compton, Los Angeles County, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital is treating 70 people in its 29-bed emergency department, officials said on Wednesday. Dr Elaine Batchlor, the hospital’s chief executive, said patient care had spread through the gift shop and five tents outside the emergency department.
“The African American community is being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and we are seeing this in southern Los Angeles,” said Batchlor during a virtual press conference organized by Covered California. “We are also seeing this inside the hospital.”
The availability of intensive care fell to 11.4% in the Bay Area region, which includes Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, on Wednesday, after staying at around 13% for a few days. Several Bay Area hospitals, mainly in Santa Clara County, have also expanded their intensive care and COVID-19 wards to serve more patients.
Hospitals are tracking patient volumes now, but a post-Christmas influx can be devastating, county officials said. The main problem is not physical space and resources, but having enough doctors, nurses and other professionals to care for many more patients.
“On the other side of that line are things that would have been unthinkable,” said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, director of health care preparation for COVID-19 in Santa Clara County. “We are talking about people on stretchers, without a bed to enter. We are talking about people dying who shouldn’t have died ”.
Vacation Plans
But despite the increasingly desperate pleas from public health officials, many people seemed determined to celebrate their holidays with others.
Sonoma County officials said on Wednesday that Graton Resort, a casino located on tribal lands in Rohnert Park, planned to host 4,000 people at a New Year’s Eve party, despite the stay-at-home order banning meetings of any size. The resort does not fall under the state mandate because it is run by a tribal government and exempt from California regulations.
“It would be our preference, obviously, not to have a party with 4,000 people inside the house,” said Paul Gullixson, a county spokesman. “But we have no jurisdiction there.”
Gullixson said county officials are in contact with Graton and helping to provide guidance for the planned party, which is classified as a private event on the casino’s website.
Across the country, more than 5 million travelers passed security checkpoints at US airports between Friday and Tuesday, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration. That number is less than half the comparable number from last year, but with 1 million travelers a day, this is the biggest activity seen at U.S. airports since March,
Similar numbers have been reported in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, and public health officials believe these travelers have helped fuel the current rise in infections and deaths across the country.
AAA projects that about 85 million people will travel across the country between Wednesday and January 3, mostly by car.
Vaccines
Despite several hiccups at the launch of a historic national immunization campaign last week, more than 1 million Americans received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California vaccinated more than 120,000 people, state public health officials said.
On Wednesday, a panel of state advisers proposed that people aged 75 and over, along with people aged 65 to 74 with underlying health problems, be next in line to receive the vaccine. California is expected to finalize who will be in the next groups to be vaccinated within a week or more.
Catherine Ho, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, contributed to this report.
Erin Allday and Aidin Vaziri are editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @erinallday, @MusicSF