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“The good news is that we have seen highs of almost 4,000 admissions per day to our hospitals due to Covid,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr Mark Ghaly said Tuesday. “Now we are seeing days below 2,500 and even falling, which is exactly what is going to keep our hospital conditions improving and our intensive care capacity as high as possible.
The HHS chief’s cautiously optimistic briefing comes today 24 hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom suddenly put the kibosh on the regional stay-at-home state order after just over a month and a half.
“We hope Californians don’t see yesterday’s announcement as a ‘let’s go and let our guard down’ but let’s keep our guard firmly,” Ghaly said. “Let’s do what we can to make sure our rates don’t go up and up, so that while our hospital delivery system looks better, it looks like it can handle what’s to come.
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Tuesday’s data-rich virtual briefing was also punctuated with a pernicious anniversary: Today is exactly one year after the first two cases of Covid-19 were reported in California. Since then, there have been 37,500 deaths from the coronavirus in America’s most populous state.
While waiting to see where things might be by February 21 if current trends continue and walking a thin political tightrope, Ghaly also praised Californians for the increase in masking and other “decisions. difficult ‘during the holidays to bend the curve. “We believe this has significantly decreased to 25,000 hospital admissions, 5,000 intensive care admissions… which not only protects our healthcare system, but translates to real lives saved across our state. and frankly many members of our family who are vulnerable, ”he said.
When it first appeared in the media on the pandemic in about 10 days, Newsom vowed on Monday that the decision to remove the stay-at-home order was based on science, the drop in cases and hospitalizations and projections of four weeks in ICU.
However, with Covid-19 deaths statewide still at near record levels, Newsom has had to shield himself from accusations that the reopening had separate political considerations. Trying to revamp an expanded but stubbornly sprayed vaccine distribution program, the Democrat faces a booming recall effort and outcry from businesses large and small that have been devastated by the Golden State’s seemingly impulsive political stances pandemic.
As an epilogue of sorts, Tuesday’s numbers revealed a downward trend in support of Newsom’s move. Most notably, there was a 33% drop in the 14-day positivity rate between January 12 and today.
In addition, intensive care hospitalizations have started to drop in the past two weeks, an overall drop of 10.6% from January 12. Recently adding Agency Secretary of Government Operations Yolanda Richardson to the list, Tuesday’s briefing aimed to assure Californians that the Newsom administration has a viable vaccine plans to deliver vaccines to citizens, with a focus renewed on traditionally underserved communities, in a move that mirrors the Biden administration.
In the spirit of a state’s general hope for one of the hardest-hit states in a nation battered to the brink by Covid-19, Dr Ghaly unveiled the parameters and math used by the state to justify lifting the stay at home order. “Today’s cases turn into hospital cases in about two to three weeks, intensive care cases about four weeks later,” he said. “So if we really want to determine what the impact of our current case numbers, our current transmission rates, our current positivity test is on where we’re going to be in hospitals, we have to look at around four weeks.
On the other hand, Ghaly admitted he had “uncertainty” as recently as last week over whether stay-at-home orders should be lifted based on the volatility of Covid numbers. He also gave up on the fact that the controversial alfresco dining shutdown last month was based on a desire to “reduce overall movement and reduce overall mixing” and not on a specific science – a sore point for many establishments, their owners and employees.
According to data released this afternoon, California had nearly 3.2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 17,028 new cases.
As sprawling LA County remains in dire straits, with cases and deaths continuing to show the impact of the holiday season and haphazard safety compliance, the nearly omnipotent oversight board of the region voted on Monday to lower its own restrictions. According to the state, over the next few days, the Southern California region will allow for the reintroduction of outdoor dining and other private and commercial pursuits. Of course, as new case and death data is expected to be made available later today, this being LA and this being CA, that could change everything again.
“The Super Bowl is approaching and we’ve seen what happens when people gather for a sporting event in their homes,” said Hilda Solis, chair of the LA County Board of Directors, of the 7 February between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. .
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