Inland Edition, December 11, 2020

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The Coast News INLAND EDITION

.com ESCONDIDO, SAN MARCOS, VISTA

VOL. 5, N0. 25

DEC. 11, 2020

County nears 100,000th COVID case

EUSD schools going virtual until January

By City News Service

By Staff

ESCONDIDO — The Escondido Union School District has temporarily suspended all in-person instruction effective Dec. 8, requiring all students to continue virtual-only instruction at home. During the next several weeks, students will follow the district’s virtual hybrid model schedule, according to a district statement. In-person classes are expected to resume on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. The suspension of in-person instruction is not related to the state’s new three-week Stay Home Order. “This decision was made out of an abundance of caution, as well as out of a commitment to providing a rigorous educational program for our students. We know this decision directly impacts our families, we know that it’s far from ideal, but this was the right decision at this time,” said Luis Rankins-Ibarra, EUSD superintendent. “The operational efficiency of our schools is essential to the safety and health of our students and staff, which has been and will continue to be my top priority.” Once a positive case is confirmed, extensive contact tracing is conducted by EUSD staff to identify all individuals who came in close contact with the positive individual. Those individuals are directed to begin a 14-day quarantine. So far this month, expoTURN TO SCHOOLS ON 9

closer proximity to people. The Thanksgiving holiday will add a layer on top of that [which] we haven’t really seen yet. We might see those effects in the next week or two.” Back in April, Palomar Medical Center in Escondido received a 202-bed FEMA field hospital, which still hasn’t been used. Dr. Khawaja said that it hasn’t been necessary yet, but the health systems have been in constant communication

REGION — San Diego County reported 15 deaths and 2,104 new COVID-19 infections Dec. 9, the second-highest daily case total and one that comes as hospitalizations continue to surge. The infections reported Wednesday are second only to Friday’s record 2,287 and raise the county’s cumulative total to 97,549. Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said she anticipates the total cases to cross 100,000 before the end of the week. Another 15 deaths and 36 hospitalizations were reported Wednesday, raising the death toll to 1,103 and the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the pandemic began to 4,987. Wednesday’s numbers mark the ninth consecutive day with more than 1,000 new reported cases and the 17th day of the last 20 to meet that mark. It is just the third time the daily cases have crossed 2,000 — all of which have come in the past week. San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher offered a somber message as he reminded county residents hospitalizations tend to lag, showing the effects of increased cases after 2124 days. Thanksgiving was 14 days ago. “We don’t want to waste an entire year of sacrifice,” he said. “The aim and intention of what we are doing right now is to limit the interaction of those from dif-

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SO LONG TO A NORTH COUNTY ‘FIRST’ San Marcos Brewery & Grill, the first micro-brewery in North County, is permanently closing after 27 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. STORY ON PAGE 5. Photo courtesy of San Marcos Brewery

Palomar Health sees surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations By Tigist Layne

ESCONDIDO — Palomar Health is one of the hundreds of health systems across California that are seeing a spike in hospitalizations due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases. The two hospitals, one in Escondido and one in Poway, are preparing their staff and supplies as numbers continue to rise. San Diego County is under a three-week stay-athome order as of late Sunday night due to a decrease in ICU beds across South-

ern California. The state order will be lifted after three weeks if the region’s ICU capacity rises to 15% or higher. Palomar Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Omar Khawaja said that countywide, hospitalizations were in the 200s, but that number is now up to the 700s range with about 30% of those patients going into the ICU. Dr. Khawaja, who is responsible for Palomar Medical Center in Escondido and Palomar Medical

Center Poway, told The Coast News that at both hospitals, the last spike was about 40 COVID-19 hospitalizations, but now that number is around 70, with about a quarter of those being in the ICU. “We’ve been lucky not to see a huge hit to our ICUs or our ventilators, but we are seeing higher numbers than we’ve ever seen,” Dr. Khawaja said. “We saw a real spike correlated to just temperature change, because people are staying indoors and in


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Inland Edition, December 11, 2020 by Coast News Group - Issuu