Medical examiner: San Joaquin County not yet overwhelmed

Cases, deaths continue to climb in Lodi, Galt area

As the number of COVID-19 deaths in San Joaquin County eclipsed 700 this week, officials say there is enough space in the medical examiner’s office to conduct autopsies and store bodies.

“We can’t say there won’t be a time of having critical capacity or space like other areas are experiencing, like Los Angeles,” deputy county administrator Jolena Voorhis said. “But right now, we’re in no place where we’ll be overrun and need to use overflow space.”

On Friday, the number of COVID-19 deaths reached 712 in the county, up from 696 on Thursday and 634 on New Year’s Eve.

San Joaquin County has the 10th highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the state, just behind Alameda County, which recorded 729. Los Angeles County has recorded the most deaths with 11,545.

Cases in San Joaquin County climbed to 51,523 on Friday, with 6,843 currently active. There have been 4,609 cases reported in Lodi, which has a case rate of 678.49 per 10,000 residents. Lodi’s case rate remains the second highest in the county.

The 95240 ZIP Code has had 3,722 cases and 92 deaths, while the 95242 ZIP Code has had 1,477 cases and 12 deaths, according to county public health reports.

Sacramento County public health officials on Friday said deaths had reached 955, the sixthhighest in the state. Of those 955, 22 were reported in the 95632 ZIP Code, which includes all of Galt. City officials said that was double the number of deaths reported on Dec. 15, 2020.

The total number of cases in Sacramento County is up to 71,062, with 1,974 of those in Galt, a 44% increase from Dec. 15 as well, officials said.

That increase has given Galt the highest new

case rate in Sacramento County, which is now 7.694 per 100,000 residents.

The seven hospitals in the county were treating 323 patients for COVID19 on Friday, with 95 of those in an intensive care unit. Adventist Health Lodi Memorial was treating 52 patients, of which six were in the ICU. Dameron Hospital in Stockton, which is managed by Adventist Health, was treating 33 patients with the virus. Nine of them were in the ICU.

As the number of cases and deaths rise in both San Joaquin and Sacramento counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday released his proposed $227 budget, which includes providing $600 in stimulus checks to residents earning less than $30,000 during the pandemic. About 4 million people would be eligible for the stimulus.

In addition, $4.4 billion is being proposed for pandemic relief emergency response, which includes $2 billion for testing and $473 million for contact tracing. Another $372 million is earmarked for vaccines.

Newsom is also proposing $575 million for small business grants and $85.8 billion for public schools. Of that funding for schools, $2 billion would help districts transition to more inperson instruction, and $4.6 billion would help students “bounce back from the pandemic.” Another $400 million would be allocated to schoolbased mental health services.