Stay-at-home order not likely to change in county
Bay Area regional ICU capacity stands at 3%
With ICU bed availability dropping in Santa Cruz County, Communications Manager Jason Hoppin said the county will very likely not be reopening.
The state established a regional stay-at-home order in December based on ICU capacity. Santa Cruz County is in the Bay Area region, one of five regions statewide. The other regions are Greater Sacramento, Northern California, Southern California and San Joaquin Valley.
Though Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to formally announce if the Bay Area region’s COVID-19 metrics will warrant an extension, Hoppin said the numbers speak for themselves.
“We have not seen our regional numbers go down at all — in fact, they’ve gotten worse,” Hoppin said. “Our ICU capacity is negative, they’re using more bed than they have… they’re triaging care as best they can.”
The Bay Area region was up for assessment to move out of its stay-at-home order Thursday. As of Friday, it wasn’t clear when state officials would make an announcement on regional Bay Area COVID-19 restrictions.
According to the California Department of Public Health data, Bay Area regional ICU capacity stood at 3% as of Friday. That capacity would need to reach 15% for Santa Cruz, and the Bay Area region at large to reopen.
In December, Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel told the Sentinel she expected to see a surgeon-surge- on-surge situation
arise in Santa Cruz, fueled by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve gatherings.
Hoppin said the county is still expecting to see that predicted uptick.
“We have not seen the peak of the surge from the holidays yet,” Hoppin said. “There’s still a lot more to come, over the next few weeks.”
As of Thursday, at least 104 people have died in Santa Cruz County as a result of COVID-19.
More than half of the seven COVID-19 related deaths reported in Santa Cruz County on Friday were in 80-and-90-plus age ranges. One of those seven deaths was a Latina woman in her 30s, who had no underlying conditions.
The most recent case data, Hoppin said, reflects a new trend: more COVID-19 deaths are happening in the community, outside of care facilities. In December, much of the virus death toll was concentrated in nursing homes.
Of the total COVID-19 cases documented in Santa Cruz County from the beginning of the pandemic, those aged 20 to 34 make up the bulk of recorded infections.
Beyond that, the Latino population in Santa Cruz County continues to be disproportionately impacted by the virus. From Dec. 17 through the end of 2020, three Latino community members in their 30s, with no underlying conditions, died as a result of coronavirus, Hoppin confirmed to the Sentinel. In total, the Latino population represents more than 54% of cases documented in the county.
“It is so important that people follow the stay-athome order and follow all social distancing measures when they are outside of their household,” Corinne Hyland, County Health Services Agency spokeswoman, wrote in an email.