First child fatality among 49 COVID deaths in California
As the worldwide infection total has exceeded 400,000 and the U.S. death toll is rapidly rising, the coronavirus is bringing about even more dire and unprecedented measures, especially by governments in the pandemic’s hot zones.
That includes California, where there are now more than 2,400 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 49 deaths as of midday Tuesday, according to a Sacramento Bee survey of numbers released by counties’ public health departments.
Los Angeles County announced three fatalities for a total of 11 as of early Tuesday afternoon, and disclosed the first confirmed coronavirus death of a child in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a dramatically higher need for hospital capacity: The state is now projected to require at least an additional 50,000 hospital beds to handle the surge of coronavirus patients, Newsom said during a Monday evening news conference. That’s a substantial increase from a figure of about 20,000 given late last week.
The new number comes based on dynamic modeling that pulls numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data from California and other states, and additional modeling from Johns Hopkins University, Newsom said.
Newsom said the state’s existing hospitals, which currently have 75,000 beds, have agreed to expand their capacity by 40 percent -- adding another 30,000 beds by way of outbuildings on existing campuses and setting up tents in parking lots. Another approximately 5,000 beds will come from the Navy medical ship Mercy, three hospitals the state is leasing and eight field medical centers being sent by the federal government.
The state will start looking at convention centers, fairgrounds, hotels and motels and skilled nursing facilities to close the gap of roughly 15,000 beds, Newsom said Monday.
Worldwide data being tracked by Johns Hopkins shows the United States has confirmed more than 52,000 cases of the coronavirus as of 2 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday. Almost exactly half that total, just over 25,000 infections, are in New York state, where more than 200 of the nation’s nearly 600 deaths have been reported.
El Dorado confirms 3rd case, first of community transmission
El Dorado County confirmed its third coronavirus case Tuesday, which health authorities said was the jurisdiction’s first known community transmitted case.
The county in a news release said there is now one case of COVID-19 that is travel-related, one case that was transmitted through “direct contact” involving a known patient and one for which the source is unknown, meaning it was spread in the community.
“We have prepared for the identification of this third type of transmission in El Dorado County and it underscores the importance of staying at home,” county public heath officer Dr. Nancy Williams said in a statement.
“The virus is here in El Dorado County, and it’s more important than ever not to travel to places outside the homes except for essential purposes. And when people are conducting essential services and activities, it’s critical to practice social distancing and properly washing your hands.”
El Dorado was last within the four-county region -after composed of Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties -- to report a confirmed case.
El Dorado’s first came last Friday, when the county disclosed in a news release that a female resident traveled to an unspecified county in Central California and “was visiting sick family members” when symptoms arose. The woman stayed in that county and had not yet returned to El Dorado County as of last Friday. It was not specified whether the family members she was visiting were believed to have been suffering from COVID-19 or another illness.
A Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighter has tested positive for coronavirus, agency officials confirmed Tuesday. The firefighter is the first known emergency responder in the Sacramento region to contract the virus that causes COVID-19.
With firefighters often on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, Metro Fire said last week they had distributed masks, gowns and gloves to staff to better protect them while responding to calls.
And while the Metro firefighter is the first to test positive, local firefighters have responded to situations where they may have been exposed to the virus for over a month. Three Rocklin firefighters were quarantined earlier this month after they were exposed to a resident who had contracted the virus while on a cruise ship. The resident later died, but the firefighters were cleared for duty March 12 after not showing symptoms following 14 days of voluntary home isolation.