COVID-19 has killed another Shasta County resident, a man over the age of 89, bringing the death toll to 79. 43 new cases were reported from Sunday and another 152 from Monday, for a total so far of 8,463. An estimated 549 people have the virus right now, 45 of them hospitalized and 10 of them in intensive care. The regional ICU capacity is 29.8%, still well above the 15% that would trigger the stay at home order already imposed on most of the state.
Shasta County’s adjusted case rate has increased from 29.9 to 34.1 daily cases per 100,000 residents. The positivity rate has gone from 6.3% to 7.6%.
Butte County has reported 100 deaths among their 7,963 cases.
Tehama County has had 3,529 cases and 38 deaths.
Trinity County has had 282 cases and 4 deaths.
1,239 have been reported in Siskiyou County with 11 deaths.
Glenn County has had 1,564 cases and 16 deaths.
Humboldt County has had 1,928 cases and 23 deaths.
Lassen County has had 9 deaths among their 1,503 cases in the community and 2 deaths among the 3,342 cases in prison.
Modoc County has had 351 cases and one death.
The COVID-19 death toll in the United States is around 357,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s. More than 21 million people in the country have been infected.
Hospitals in California are so swamped by the Coronavirus that the state has ordered hospitals with available space to accept patients from others that have run out of intensive care beds. The public health order issued Tuesday could result in patients being shipped to Northern California from Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley
The Covid-19 vaccines are being issued in phases according to the exposure and vulnerability of various population groups. The vaccination plan is all laid out at shastaready.org. Only about 1% of California’s 40 Million residents have been vaccinated. About 454,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered – that’s just a quarter of the 1.3 Million doses the state has received so far.
Although the Covid vaccine is not yet widely available, the flu shot is highly recommended and it’s free by appointment at shastaflushots.com.
Local healthcare leaders are pleading with the public to slow the spread through the proven practices of staying home and away from other people as much as possible and wearing face coverings when going out.
Covid testing is free and convenient, with appointments through lhi.care/covidtesting or visit shastaready.org.