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UPDATE: Santa Clara County, along with several other Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley, will implement the state’s stay-at-home order beginning this Sunday, Dec. 6, health officials announced Friday. Read more about the announcement here.
In an attempt to prevent a crisis in hospitals and intensive care units in the coming weeks due to ballooning cases of COVID-19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a regional stay-at-home order for most areas of the state, including in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
The state’s regional stay-at-home order, which could begin in days or weeks depending on the region, affects areas where the overall intensive care unit capacity in hospitals is below 15%. The state is projecting five regions that will be below that level by mid- to late December. The first could reach that level in the next day or two, he said.
Currently, hospital beds statewide are at 86% of capacity and ICU beds are at 67% of capacity, he said. The Greater Sacramento, Northern California, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions are projected to drop below the 15% capacity ICU-bed threshold in early December; the Bay Area is projected to reach that level by mid- to late December, Newsom said.
Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 dashboard states that the seven-day rolling average of ICU beds with COVID-19 patients is only 23% as of Thursday. The overall occupancy of ICU beds, when including all patients, is 84% in the nonsouthern part of the county and is even more limited in the southern end of the county, including in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and east San Jose. There were fewer than a dozen beds across all five hospitals serving the south county community, Dr. Jennifer Tong, assistant chief medical officer for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The order temporarily closes bars, wineries, personal services, hair salons and barbershops. Schools already with waivers and critical infrastructure such as grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open. Retail will be limited to 20% of capacity to reduce exposure, and restaurants will be restricted to takeout and deliveries. Once triggered, the order would be in place for at least three weeks, he said. The order also limits all nonessential travel.
“If we don’t act now, the hospital system will be overwhelmed,” Newsom said, adding that “this is not a permanent state” but that the nation is in the final surge in the pandemic. With vaccines, the state is a few months away from seeing some control over the virus, he said.
But in the meantime, California residents must prevent as many deaths as possible and help keep hospitals and their essential workers from being overwhelmed. The number of COVID-19 deaths, for example, has increased eight-fold in the last 30 days, from 14 deaths on Nov. 2 to 113 on Dec. 2, he noted.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s health and human services secretary, said that after three weeks the state will reassess the situation in each region and could either extend the order or allow counties within an individual region to return to one of the four tiers established by the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy — yellow, orange, red or purple — for gradually reopening the economy.
“We will look at transmission rates and project four weeks after that,” he said. “About 12% of cases identified today will be hospitalized two weeks from now; 1.5 weeks after that, many of the cases go into the ICU.”
State officials are also taking additional steps to ensure there are enough hospital beds. For the last 72 hours, they have been discussing with hospitals ways to proactively suspend elective surgeries to free up beds. The state also has 11 facilities in the “warm status” with 1,503 additional beds to meet the surge. One facility, at the San Mateo County Convention Center, has the capacity for 250 beds.
Newsom urged people to comply with the regional order and to exercise patience. He estimated the next month or two would be significantly challenging.
“This is the light at the end of the tunnel. This is not a marathon any longer; this is a sprint,” he said.
‘If we don’t act now, the hospital system will be overwhelmed.’
Gavin Newsom, California governor
The state expects to receive the first 327,000 vaccine doses from pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. by as early as Dec. 12 to 15. Since two doses must be administered about a month apart, that means only 163,500 people would actually be vaccinated, he noted. The state is also expecting to receive doses from Moderna Inc. and details are currently being worked out, he said. Pfizer has halved its expected rollout of 100 million doses worldwide by year end, however, due to supply chain issues, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company expects it will ship 1.3 billion doses worldwide in 2021. It is awaiting emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Under a phased system, the first group of vaccines under Phase 1A would be distributed in three tiers:
• Tier 1: Acute care, psychiatric and correctional facility hospitals; skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and similar settings for older or medically vulnerable patients; paramedics, EMTs and other emergency medical workers; and dialysis centers.
• Tier 2: Intermediate care facilities; home health care and in-home supportive services; community health workers; public health field staff; primary care clinics and federally qualified health centers; rural health centers; correctional facility clinics; and urgent care centers.
• Tier 3: Specialty clinics; laboratory workers; dental/oral health clinics; pharmacy staff not working in higher tiers.
Information will be updated on the state’s website, covid19.ca.gov.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses a new stay-at-home order for five regions of the state at a Dec. 3 press conference. Video courtesy California Governor Gavin Newsom’s YouTube channel.
Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain View Voice and the Almanac here.
We currently have 17% free ICU beds in Santa Clara County (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/dashboard-hospitals.aspx)
On Nov. 28 we had 19%.
We could break the line in 1 week, and so far no information indicates we are slowing down.
We have only 50 ICU beds left, we have about 295 ICU beds in the county, we just need about 6 more patients to cross the line.
I just saw in MSNBC Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach who said he had lost both of his parents to Covid-19. Locally, it was reported that the Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo, has not yet lost both his parents to Covid-19 – but had been working on it at a large family Thanksgiving gathering in Saratoga. Liccardo’s spokesman told reporters seeking details that Liccardo’s virus-spreading event was “private.” Reminds me of another well-known California Covid hypocrite. I dare Liccardo to run again for any office. We must stop electing politicians like this guy.
This just shows the arbitrariness of the policy. And that the policy lacks any scientific evidence of the spread from the locations now shut down (e.g., playgrounds). Ditto for curfews. Wear your mask when indoors. But people need to be able to have the freedom to make choices in their own self interest.
Well Dan,
It is official that Santa Clara is now in the new controls.
Read the following news from CNN here (https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/04/us/san-francisco-bay-area-stay-at-home-order/index.html)
Sorry.
Dan- the policy is rather arbitrary. Cody and her gang are using the sledgehammer approach, they have no real data to support closing outdoor dining, playgrounds and hair salons. There was an article in today’s chronicle discussing whether or not outdoor dining causes infections.
In LA restaurant owners have gone to court to overturn the ban on outdoor dining. The judge allowed the ruling to stand, but was skeptical of the reasoning. He ordered county health officials to appear in court on Tuesday with evidence to support their action.
Meanwhile in SCC it is clear that a large number of cases are occurring in ESJ and Gilroy, in senior care centers and juvenile detention centers. Not new. What has the county done about it since March?
We currently have 270 people in county hospitals for Covid ( out of 2 million people). Our percentage is so low because we have so few beds. What has Cody done about that for 9 months. In fact Cody has worked since 2001 on scenarios to address terrorist attacks and pandemics, how come nothing was done by her to increase beds in the county?
Victor Bishop,
The REALITY is that we most likely have more PHYSICAL beds.
BUT.
Without the PROPERLY trained support staff to supervise the PATIENTS, they CANNOT be used.
You cannot just put a dermatologist in that role, both medical licenses and certifications must be met. Otherwise you have incompetent medical supervision.
The Medical licenses would be revoked from said persons
In fact we already lost due to death and impairment quite a bit of our medical professionals already.
Stop practicing MAGICAL thinking, You SHOULD know better as a medical researcher.
If there are more beds and the issue is support staff, then the county is lying to us.
Therefor I think your comments are wrong.
Victor Bishop,
Victor,
There is NO LYING here.
The County is indicating ICU Beds AVAILABLE, thus which ones HAVE THE ABILITY OF BEING USED BY ANY PATIENT.
That is an ACCURATE statement, and you SHOULD know it
Your just angry that you can’t get what you want.
Please produce some more ICU beds and staff out of thin air?
At the minimum you need a certified Critical Care Nurse. Here is where you get information regarding a Critical Care Nurse (https://everynurse.org/careers/critical-care-nurse/) in short you have to :
1. Earn Your Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) 2. Pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) 3. Earn a Master’s Degree from an Accredited MSN Program 4. Get Certified as a Critical Care Nurse by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) Continuing Education which includes:
Employers usually require that their critical care nursing staff maintain continuing education to retain their position. Continuing education helps nurses perform effectively in the workplace, stay up-to-date with the most current teachings in the field, and master the latest technology. Continuing education also helps nurses perform as leaders in the workplace and raises the bar to ensure excellent patient care at each facility.
Please stop trying to misinform people by claiming how easy it is to get the required care?
Goldstein- don’t try to bully me like you do to,other people on this forum.
I have heard and read that people are reluctant to comment n this forum because they know they will become a victim of your vitriol for daring to disagree with you.
Not sure what you are ranting about nurses, dermatologists, but oar for the course with you.
Just provide proof that the county has beds that they cannot use because they lack the staff. Simple. Even for you
Victor Bishop you wrote:
“Goldstein- don’t try to bully me like you do to,other people on this forum.”
I am NOT bullying you. I am however serving as a reality check. You wrote:
“I have heard and read that people are reluctant to comment n this forum because they know they will become a victim of your vitriol for daring to disagree with you.”
I guess your using an app like Parler. Everyone is free to write anything they want, but realize anything that can be easily fact checked to be wrong will be identified. You wrote:
“Not sure what you are ranting about nurses, dermatologists, but oar for the course with you.”
You previously wrote:
“We currently have 270 people in county hospitals for Covid ( out of 2 million people). Our percentage is so low because we have so few beds. What has Cody done about that for 9 months.
In fact Cody has worked since 2001 on scenarios to address terrorist attacks and pandemics, how come nothing was done by her to increase beds in the county?”
Again, you criticized the Department of Health for the lack of ICU’s and I was demonstrating they cannot do anything about it. You wrote:
“Just provide proof that the county has beds that they cannot use because they lack the staff. Simple. Even for you,”
Here is the story that supports my explanation from NBC Bay Area News story titled “COVID-19 Surge Continues in Santa Clara County” found here (https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/covid-19-surge-continues-in-santa-clara-county/2414467/)
“”When the amount of COVID rises in our community, you’re going to get more people landing in the ICU and you’re going to get more outbreaks in congregate settings,” Dr. George Han, Deputy Public Health Officer for the county, said.
Officials say setting up outside surge facilities as they did at the start of the pandemic will be more difficult due to a lack of staffing.
“Nursing staff are stretched thin and are being deployed all over the country, so we are very concerned of a long-term staffing crunch,” Kamal said.”
Is THAT enough for you?
Goldstein seems to be familiar with Parler. No point in reading any further in his long diatribe,
A fan of Jennie McCarthy, I imagine,
Victor,
WOW you don’t like habving your own writing used against you, or worse having someone easily provide you with the information you requested.
I will take any vaccine that is proven safe when available.
But assuming that no side effects occurring within 2 months of getting it seems too short. There are so many ways that can be premature, it is being ASSUMED that it will only take that long.
I am worried that say in two more months bad reactions start being reported AFTER administering the vaccine to people during that 2 month period. Maybe we should watch what happens in Britain for a bit, they volunteered to be the guinea pigs.
SG- LOL. So sad.
Victor you wrote,
“SG LOL so sad.”
You sound schizophrenic, Laughing and crying at the same time?
It is very sad actually, we once managed to control COVID with cooperative effort, then lost it. Then the fires forced us to stay indoors and resulted in a drop in infections again. Then when the air cleared, we had COVID cases explode again. Then now we have the Thanksgiving super-spreader about to hit.
GOD aren’t we SMART enough to get this thing under control?
I really feel terrible that we are still perhaps years away from normal even with a good Vaccine. Realize that if we want herd immunity, we need at least 70% of the population vaccinated, right? We will need 70% of 330,000,000 times 2 doses to cover the U.S. alone. That comes to 462,000,000 doses.
Pfizer claims it can produce 1.3 Billion doses by the end of 2021 here (https://time.com/5917847/pfizer-cut-covid-19-vaccine-targets/). Let’s say they can produce 108,000,000 doses a month. Given that the transport requires Dry Ice or Super Freezing, we have to take into account that we could lose 20% of functional doses during transit. That results in 86,666,667 doses.
Let’s say that if we get the world proportional part of that number which is only 4.25% the U.S. will only have 3,900,000 doses a month
So let’s divide 462,000,000 by 3,900,000 it will take 119 plus 21 for the second dose which is 140 days to deliver the required doses to achieve herd immunity. That’s if we have not one problem in providing the vaccine, transporting it, and having the right people perform the vaccinations, and that it is done 24/7. We will have to administer 162,500 doses an hour, say it take 10 min to actually perform the procedure we will need 975,000 people doing it. There are about 311,000 pharmacists, we need another 664,000 people to perform the work.
Here’s the real kicker, getting everyone to that point only means that we can start at that time to restart our lives. Given that so much damage has been done, it took about 8 years to recover from 2007-2009 regarding employment, we can expect it will take at least that long for this one to recover.
SG’s bullying has reached a new low point.
Victor Bishop you wrote:
“SG’s bullying has reached a new low point.”
What in the world are you talking about?
Actually, what I wrote is an optimistic logistical quantitative outlook.
Because the job loss damage we experienced now is 10 times the loss we experienced in 2007-2009.
I just think you hate it when anyone does any thoughtful discussion.
Your only answer is name calling?
Victor Bishop – Goldstein gets the only attention he gets in life, from this forum. Also, everyone knows (and he admits) that he gives himself all the “up votes”, so I find it amusing that he keeps at it until it’s laughable. (Then he says they “are meaningless” but they certainly mean a lot to HIM, as his little ruse continues.) He is apparently a sad and lonely guy, and if he wasn’t so obnoxious, I’d pity him. It’s best to just let him make all his blustering comments and ignore him.