Health
This could be the week COVID-19 peaks in California and the country.
Over the Easter weekend, the state confirmed a total of fewer than 2,000 new cases of the respiratory illness and saw its number of deaths per day plateau. The Bay Area crossed a milestone — 5,000 total cases — but also began to see a drop in hospitalizations.
There were 23,292 confirmed cases statewide as of Sunday evening, according to data compiled by this news organization, a 9.2% increase from Friday night. About one-fifth of the state’s cases are in the Bay Area, which reported 366 new cases over the weekend to bring the total across its 10 counties — population: 8 million — to 5,090.
It has been nearly a week since the state’s deadliest reporting day, April 8, when health officials reported 66 new fatalities from the virus. It hasn’t reported more than 50 new deaths in a day since, and one widely cited model expects that to hold true. A total of 82 new deaths were reported over the weekend, bringing the statewide death toll to 676.
As the number of confirmed cases continues to inch upward, the number of patients in hospital beds has sloped down. The Bay Area peaked with nearly 500 hospitalized early last week, but the state’s latest data showed 430 patients in the region hospitalized on Saturday. The number requiring intensive care units had fallen for four consecutive days before increasing to 187 on Saturday. Statewide, health officials reported a modest 2% increase in hospitalizations from Friday to Saturday.
At least one model believes California’s situation will only get better from here. A widely cited projection from the University of Washington says that Monday — today — will be the day hospital use in the state peaks. It projects deaths in the state will begin to slow this week, too.
The model was equally bullish on the nation as a whole. It believes the U.S. has passed its highest daily death toll, as well as the virus’s peak strain on the country’s medical system.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, echoed that sentiment Monday morning.
“We are nearing the peak right now,” Redfield said in an interview on NBC. “I think sometime, hopefully this week, we will be able to say — you’ll know when you’re at the peak when the next day is actually less than the day before.”
In total, more than 20,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
As the numbers begin to turn a corner, however, local health officials have stressed the importance of continuing to practice social distancing.
Without the swift measures taken almost exactly one month ago, Santa Clara County could have been approaching 50,000 cases by the end of the month, Dr. Sara Cody said last week. As of Sunday, there were 1,621 confirmed cases in the county. It’s the most in the Bay Area, but the county has since been passed by some counties in Southern California, where the virus has spread more rapidly.
Los Angeles on Sunday reported its most deaths in a single day, 31, since the outbreak began, but its lowest number of new cases in more than two weeks. Nearly 300 people have died and 9,192 have tested positive in LA County alone.
San Francisco has the second-most cases in the Bay Area, with 872 confirmed as of Sunday, while Alameda County isn’t far behind, with 853. They were about even with San Mateo County to start last week, but each now has about 200 more cases than San Mateo.
Dr. Jeff Smith, the chief executive of Santa Clara County, said on Friday that, after reviewing data from the CDC and local officials, the virus had infiltrated the region “a lot longer (ago) than we first believed” — possibly as far back as December.
The actual number of people who have contracted the virus is believed to be much higher because of testing delays and shortfalls. The state, which is home to nearly 40 million people, conducted its 200,000th test over the weekend and has received results from about 190,000 of them.
Health Coronavirus: California goes over 23,000 cases, more than 5,000 in Bay Area - The Mercury News
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