COMMUNITY NEWS
County Reports 64 COVID Deaths; Stay-At-Home Order Begins Friday
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By Jondi Gumz
day after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Santa Cruz County with the priority hospital workers, the number of county residents dead because of the coronavirus rose again, to 64 on Wednesday, and the regional intensive care unit availability dropped to 12.9 percent, triggering a stay-at-home order for Santa Cruz County takes effect at 11:49 p.m. Thursday and will remain for at least three weeks. After that, ICU availability will be reassessed weekly. In eight days, the virus claimed 17 more lives, elders in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. The increase is being driven by deaths at nursing homes, which account for 44 of the total fatalities. Underlying conditions have been a factor in 47 deaths, according to public health data. Santa Cruz County reported 1,632 active cases Wednesday, bringing the total to 6,317 since the virus arrived in January. In the state’s COVID strategy, which mandates stay-at-home orders when ICU availability falls below 15 percent, Santa Cruz County is part of the Bay Area Region along with Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties. The order prohibits private gatherings of any size and mandates masking and physical distancing. “With our case counts at an all-time high and headed higher due to the Thanksgiving surge, our hospitals and health care delivery system are at the breaking point,” Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said. “We urge all residents to adhere to state guidelines as closely as possible to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and help reduce impacts to our most vulnerable residents. Our actions now will help us return to our normal lives sooner rather than later.” A New York State investigation of COVID case contacts from September through November found 74 percent were linked to private gatherings, 8 percent to health care, and 2 percent to restaurants. The restrictions require individuals to stay home unless traveling for essential purposes, prohibits leisure travel and gatherings outside one’s immediate household, limits community and commercial activities, and will be in place a minimum of three weeks. Closures he regional stay-at-home order also closes hair salons, barbershops, personal care services such as massage, indoor recreation
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Photo Credit: Shmuel Thaler
Staff at Dominican Hospital carefully unbox the first shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. such as gyms and fitness centers, museums, bars, wineries and breweries; limits grocery store occupancy to 35 percent and all other retail stores to 20 percent, and ends outdoor dining at restaurants, allowing only take-out, pickup and delivery. People can leave home to buy food, obtain health care and exercise. Non-urgent medical and dental care may remain open. Offices except for critical services must shift to remote work. Schools offering in-person learning and child care may remain open if remote options are not possible. Hotels are open for critical services but leisure travel is not allowed, and neither is overnight camping. At places of worship, only outdoor services are allowed. Political protests can only take place outdoors. To maintain physical and mental health, members of the same household are encouraged to go to a park, hike, walk or bike ride and practice physical distancing. The state guidance on youth and adult recreational sports, released Monday, details what is permissible. With 1,632 active cases, Santa Cruz County’s contact tracing staff is stretched thin, according to Mimi Hall, director of the county Health Services Agency. New App all urged residents to download a new app for cell phones, called CA Notify,
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to help reduce the spread of the virus. The app became available on Dec. 10. Once installed on a smartphone, the app tells if you have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus. With this information, people can make responsible decisions around quarantine and testing, which is essential for stopping the surge, according to Hall, noting that the app protects privacy because no personally identifiable information is collected. People who opt in and get a positive test result will receive a code via text message from the California Department of Public Health. “The more people download and use
this app, the more helpful it is to our efforts to contain this disease,” Santa Cruz County Health Director Mimi Hall said. “It helps us save lives.” More information is at www.canotify. ca.gov. While the county’s cases have skyrocketed since Thanksgiving, the local situation is better than what’s happening statewide. Santa Cruz County has 37.5 new cases per 100,000 population compared to 63.9 statewide. The county’s positivity rate on tests is 6.5% compared to 11.3% statewide. However, the county’s equity positivity rate, a measure of disadvantaged populations, is 14.8% which shows a gap that needs to be closed. Lawsuit Update lawsuit filed against Watsonville Post Acute Center by the family of 94-yearold Donald Wickham, one of 16 residents who died of COVID at the nursing home, has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann, according to attorney Dvid Spini, who represents the family. A status conference is set for March 10. Spini said he has not received response to the complaint from Watsonville Post-Acute. Spini, who is with Scruggs, Spini & Fulton in Santa Cruz, said the firm has heard from some other families about COVID-related deaths at that facility. “We are in the process of investigating these other claims, as everyone’s experience is a bit different,” he said. “We have also heard from families who lost family members to COVID at other facilities.”
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“COVID Update” page 17
www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / December 15th 2020 / 9
