The darkest time of the COVID-19 pandemic has arrived in Shasta County as 10 deaths have been reported in a single day. They were a woman in her 50’s, 5 women in their 70’s, 2 women in their 80’s and a man and woman over the age of 89. Public health points out that these are all Covid deaths. Some may have died from Covid because an underlying condition made it impossible for them to recover, but it was Covid that killed them. The death toll is now 89. Another 181 cases were confirmed from Tuesday, bringing the total so far to 8,574. An estimated 597 people have the virus right now, 51 of them hospitalized and 10 of them in intensive care.
The ICU capacity for the region that includes Shasta County has dropped to 24.4%. A level of 15% would trigger the stay at home order already imposed on most of the state.
Butte County has reported 102 deaths among their 8,096 cases.
Tehama County reports 3,639 cases and 40 deaths.
Trinity County has had 283 cases and 4 deaths.
1,259 have been reported in Siskiyou County with 11 deaths.
Glenn County has had 1,556 cases and 16 deaths.
Humboldt County has had 1,957 cases and 23 deaths.
Lassen County has had 9 deaths among their 1,561 cases in the community and 2 deaths among the 3,351 cases in prison.
Modoc County has had 353 cases and one death.
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.
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.
The deadline has been extended to apply for small businesses grants from the State of California. $500 Million worth of relief grant funding is up for grabs for small businesses, with individual grants of between $5,000 and $25,000. The deadline to apply has been extended to Wednesday January 13th. Applications can be found at careliefgrant.com.
Covid testing is free and convenient, with appointments through lhi.care/covidtesting or visit shastaready.org.