A staggering rise in Coronavirus cases could overwhelm California’s health system within weeks. Hospitalizations from the virus have increased nearly 90% and officials say they could triple by Christmas, overwhelming intensive care units.
Three more Shasta County residents have died of COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 50. The latest fatalities were two women in their 60’s and a man in his 70’s. An additional 169 people have tested positive Sunday and Monday, for a total of 5,132 cases. There are 62 people in the hospital, 10 of them in intensive care. Public health estimates at least 488 currently active cases, but they say that is an under count because of delays in reporting. Thousands of people are under quarantine orders due to possible exposure.
A surge of cases is expected in the coming weeks resulting from Thanksgiving gatherings. Everyone is urged to stay home as much as possible, wear face coverings when going out, maintain distance from other people and wash hands frequently.
People who test positive are asked to notify their close contacts. The state tries to reach out to these contacts with phone calls or text messages that are sent from a 916 area code. Anyone who has doubts about the legitimacy of such a message should call public health at 225-5591.
93% of the cases in November have been people with symptoms, the most common being cough, headache, fever and muscle aches.
Tehama County has had 1,736 cases and 26 deaths.
Trinity County has had 168 cases.
Siskiyou County has had 722 cases and 3 deaths.
Butte County has had 4,195 cases and 60 deaths.
Glenn County has had 985 cases and 10 deaths.
Humboldt County has had 919 cases and 9 deaths.
Lassen County has had two deaths among their 538 cases in the community and one death among the 1,644 cases in prison.
Modoc County has reached 151 cases.
California officials have approved stricter new safety regulations for employers. CAL/Osha now requires businesses to educate employees on ways to prevent infection, provide free personal protective equipment and offer free COVID-19 testing to all employees if three or more employees are infected with the Coronavirus within a 14-day period.Widespread testing is a vital component in slowing the spread and getting Shasta County out of the purple tier. There have been 84,297 negative tests. A new state testing site has been set up at the Boggs Building on Breslauer Way. Also, a traveling testing team will alternate between HHSA Offices in Shasta Lake, Anderson and Enterprise. Appointments for any of these sites can be made at lhi.care/covidtesting or visit shastaready.org.
There’s a lot of information at shastaready.org, the Facebook Coronavirus Information Center and cdc.gov.