Coronavirus update, Nov. 27: Only four adult ICU beds available as hospitalizations rise
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
Only four adult intensive-care beds are available in Stanislaus County as of Thursday, as hospitalizations due to coronavirus continue to increase.
The state reported 192 positive tests in the county Thursday. The number needs to average 40 or fewer to start reversing the limits on gatherings that tightened earlier this month.
Stanislaus County did not release new case numbers on Thursday, the Thanksgiving holiday.
The county’s positivity stood at 10.25% Wednesday, down from 23.65% on Tuesday. The rolling seven-day average was 12.23%. The 14-day average was 11.96%.
The state requires a positivity rate of under 8 percent to advance to the next less restrictive tier in its system.
A total of 422 people have died in Stanislaus County from the virus as of Wednesday, the county Health Services Agency announced.
The county has 21,145 people who have tested positive, 215,999 who tested negative and 19,023 who are presumed recovered.
A total of 186 people were hospitalized Wednesday with confirmed cases of the virus, up from 167 the day before. The number was around 40 for much of early fall. Four intensive care beds for adults were available Wednesday, down from nine.
The demographic breakdowns of the positive tests as of Wednesday:
- 54% are female
- 46% male
- 8% are 14 years or younger
- 16% are ages 15 to 24
- 20% are 25 to 34,
- 18% are 35 to 44,
- 15% are 45 to 54
- 12% are 55 to 64
- 6% are 65 to 74
- 3% are 75 to 84,
- 2% are 85 or older.
- Though they make up 47 percent of the population, Latinos represented 64 percent of the positive cases.
Geographically:
- Modesto has 7,481 positive cases
- Turlock has 2,862
- Ceres has 2,332
- Patterson has 1,083
- Riverbank has 974
- Oakdale has 487
- Newman has 409
- Waterford has 277
- Hughson has 200
- Supervisorial District 5 has 1,213
- District 3 has 1,132
- District 2 has 911
- District 1 has 444
- District 4 has 141
In other nearby counties:
- San Joaquin County has 502 COVID-19-related deaths among 25,675 cases.
- Merced County has 179 deaths among 11,537 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 908 cases and eight deaths.
- Mariposa County has 126 cases and two deaths.
As of Friday morning, there were 1,172,383 confirmed cases in California and 19,026 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 12,886,202 U.S. cases and 262,462 deaths.
A different Thanksgiving for those in need
Some local charity groups which typically provide a feast to those in need opted for either safer socially distanced drive-thru meal giveaways — like the Modesto Gospel Mission did the day before Thanksgiving — or no meal at all — as with the annual Thanks for Giving joint Salvation Army and Dan Costa-led Modesto Centre Plaza event that was canceled.
So instead, smaller local groups stepped in to help fill some of the void left by the cancellation of the area’s larger, in-person Thanksgiving Day events that typically drew over a thousand people.
How will the vaccine be distributed?
Government officials said the first 6.4 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be distributed to all states and territories around mid-December, assuming the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will deem it safe and grant it an emergency use authorization, media outlets report.
Top members of Operation Warp Speed — a program created in May by the government to produce and deliver COVID-19 vaccines — told reporters on a call Tuesday that the first doses will be given to states based on population size.
Modesto doctor: Virus really does kill
She looks at the box of dead people on her desk. It is almost full. Whenever she hears someone say that COVID-19 is not dangerous, that masks are not necessary, or that most people don’t die, she wants to invite them to visit her box of dead people.
Cases surge, vaccine looms
As COVID-19 cases shoot higher, Stanislaus County leaders don’t have many answers for bringing the surge under control. But local health officials are scrambling to prepare for a mid-December arrival of coronavirus vaccine for front line health workers.
Stanislaus jail has ‘minor’ outbreak
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department is reporting a “minor” coronavirus outbreak in its jail system. The outbreak was discovered Nov. 16 during screening required for inmates being sent to state prison.
MJC Turkey Trot goes virtual
The Turkey Trot and Gobbler Walk, which supports Modesto Junior College’s cross country and track and field programs, has gone virtual because of the pandemic.
Job creation could stall in winter
Unemployment in Stanislaus County continued to fall in October, but increased coronavirus restrictions could again cause a temporary rise in the jobless numbers as winter approaches.
How has on-campus learning gone in Oakdale?
The past five weeks in Oakdale have reinforced what most educators and families already agree upon: Distance learning doesn’t come close to in-person instruction, and there’s no 100% safe way to have children and adults on campuses.
Christmas events, pandemic-style
Several communities and groups still plan to bring some holiday spirit to the region at the end of what’s been a festive-challenged year.
Pandemic aggravates eating disorders
Isolation at home and the stress of the coronavirus pandemic evidently is driving a large number of referrals for people seeking help for eating disorders.
From around the state, nation and world
Americans marked the Thanksgiving holiday amid an unrelenting pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people in the United States. This holiday was utterly altered after months filled with sorrows and hardships.
Around the country, contact tracing and isolation protocols are sidelining school employees and closing school buildings. The staffing challenges force students out of classrooms, even in districts where officials say the health risks of in-person learning are manageable. And the absences add to the strain from a wave of early retirements and leaves taken by employees worried about health risks.
Economists have signed an open letter, urging lawmakers to pass another coronavirus relief package to provide direct payments to Americans and businesses that are struggling during the pandemic.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 5:39 AM.
