Update: Coronavirus stay-home order extended for Stanislaus County and Valley region
Stanislaus County and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley region remains under a state stay-home order designed to slow a winter surge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California’s Health and Human Services Agency, said Tuesday the 12-county Valley region does not meet the criteria for ending the order banning restaurant dining, hair salons, gyms, social gatherings and public activities.
The region will remain under the restrictions for an indefinite period, the state said. The order has applied to four of five designated regions in California after regional intensive care capacity in hospitals fell below acceptable levels. The threshold for implementing the state order is less than 15 percent ICU capacity for the region.
“The ICU capacity is not improving in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, and demand will continue to exceed capacity,” Ghaly said. Projections will be updated daily, he said.
The ICU capacity in the San Joaquin Valley has consistently remained at or near zero this month. As hospitals filled with COVID-19 patients and the death toll climbed, the Valley region was placed under the three-week stay-home order Dec. 6. Tuesday was the first time the state considered extending the restrictions in hard-hit regions.
Stanislaus County’s public health officer said Monday it may be an additional 30 days until the county and Valley region exits the stay-at-home order.
Before the regional order is lifted, the Valley will need to have a four-week projection for 15 percent ICU capacity or better based on factors like lower disease transmission and new cases, state officials said. The state needs to know that new cases won’t keep resulting in a large number of hospitalizations.
COVID hospitalizations have ranged between 324 and 363 at Stanislaus County hospitals in the past week, which is far higher than the coronavirus surge last summer.
The county has recorded 158 COVID-related deaths in December, surpassing the single-month high since the start of the pandemic. In August, 152 people died from the virus.
Non-compliance with the coronavirus restrictions is readily seen in Modesto shopping centers and other places in Stanislaus County. County government, which has not placed a priority on enforcement during the pandemic, said one reason for the recent surge in cases is individuals not following the orders against social gatherings.
In response to questions from The Modesto Bee, the county said Tuesday that getting free from the stay-home restrictions heavily depends on community members following the guidance.
“Our conditions will only improve if all community members take the recommendations seriously,” the county statement said. To stop the spread of COVID-19 and the surge at hospitals, the county Health Services Agency is asking people to stay home except for essential needs and avoid social gatherings.
The county said 63 percent of new cases in the past two weeks have come from gatherings of friends and families. In addition, infected people in households are not following isolation and quarantine orders.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Ghaly said the hospital administrators he often talks with are concerned the worst could come in early January when people infected at Christmas parties start going to hospitals with severe symptoms.
Ghaly said the state has talked with hospitals about planning for crisis care, which may involve sharing of resources with other hospitals. The state may call upon some bigger hospitals to support smaller facilities or more impacted hospitals to receive help from less impacted facilities, he said.
Policies developed by health care leaders and medical ethicists advise hospitals that medical decisions in crisis mode can’t be based on patients’ age, race, their chronic medical conditions, sexual orientation, national origin or immigration status or incarceration status.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
