California health officials say that in just one day there has been a large increase in new COVID-19 cases and related deaths. The state is reporting almost 54,000 cases along with 293 deaths in a 24-hour period. The numbers are climbing fast in California and they have been for the past two weeks. The spike is likely tied to Thanksgiving holiday gatherings, say officials.
Concerns about hospitals being overwhelmed by this latest wave of coronavirus cases prompted state officials to reestablish auxilary hospital in various locations around California to accept COVID patients.
One of those auxiliary hospitals, the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood, is where seven patients are currently being. Brian Ferguson with Cal OES said there were seven patients there as of Tuesday, but it is unclear if the patients are being treated for coronavirus or some other health condition. Ferguson added that more patients are on the way. The site can accommodate more than 200 patients.
Meantime, another one of the five COVID regions created by the state has gone on lockdown. The Bay Area region has dropped below the 15 percent threshold for intensive care unit bed capacity, now at 12.9-percent, triggering Governor Newsom's new stay-at-home order. The order will go into effect at midnight Thursday. Even though the region had not reached the state's mandated ICU threshold until now, several Bay Area counties had already imposed the severe restrictions. Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano, and San Mateo counties will now be forced to close certain businesses, reduce capacity at others, and restaurants will only be allowed to offer take out or delivery. The only region the five in the state not under the stay-at-home order is Northern California, which has 28-percent ICU capacity.
California Counties by COVID Region
- Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity
- Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma
- Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba
- San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne
- Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura