California Coronavirus Updates: California Passes 16,000 Deaths Related To COVID-19

While parts of Northern California are reopening their indoor dining, outdoor dining is still an essential way to address the restrictions while salvaging an important portion of the local economy. However, with wildfire season in full swing, the poor air quality over the region has made outdoor dining a difficult decision.

Some residents have found that they continue to eat outside, even with ashy skies.

Melissa and Tyler Williams, owners of the Ten Ten Room and Tank House BBQ and Bar, said that diners should pick restaurants they trust and give them a little slack.

“I would advise people to get out there… I feel safe,” Tyler Williams said. “I feel comfortable here and lots of other places. Just be patient and nice. You can’t go out expecting what was.”

On a less smoky Tuesday evening at Slim and Husky’s pizza, a newly opened spot in Sacramento’s Oak Park, Sahara White enjoyed her time outdoors.

“When they first opened back up …” White said. “I think just the excitement of being able to go back out and dine out in any sort of fashion was uplifting for me”

While the pandemic has damaged many businesses, some restaurants have taken to the streets and sidewalks to continue serving customers and bring a sense of normalcy.

Stockton residents who lost money in the pandemic due to loss of work, business shutdown or taking time off to care for a child may apply for a new financial support program offered by the city, even if they weren’t ever sick with COVID-19.

The city is offering the Essential Support Program through the CARES act for COVID-19 relief. Residents can apply on the city website if they have suffered losses and don’t exceed 100 of the area’s median income.

Connie Cochran with the city of Stockton said that anyone who has been a resident since Feb. 1 is eligible.

“If you’re struggling to pay for basic household needs, there’s help in this program, a thousand dollars for each eligible adult and it’s limited to 2-thousand dollars per household,” Cochoran said.

Cochran says people who applied for an earlier program for financial assistance with rent or mortgage payments are still eligible for this program as well.

California health officials have added a requirement into the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan  that large counties must address inequity in communities such as low-income, Black, Latino, Pacific Islander and essential workers before they can loosen restrictions.

The organization has found that these groups have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, leading to a higher infection rate, more hospitalization and deaths.

The department found that there is a significant difference in test positivities between more and less advantaged neighborhoods in most counties. These differences also overlap with race and the possibility of being an essential employee.

Counties with a population greater than 106,000 must follow an equity metric to ensure that their most disadvantaged neighborhoods don’t lag behind. Counties with less than 106,000 residents must submit a plan that defines their disproportionately affected population and show plans to invest in at least interrupting disease transmission in these populations.

Some counties welcomed the news and said it would build on efforts underway. Supporters of a more rapid reopening criticized the measure.

The nation’s two largest school districts are rolling out expensive and determined plans to test staff and students for COVID-19, according to the Associated Press.

New York City launched its program to start testing 10% to 20% of staff and students as the last group of the district’s more than 1 million students return to in-person learning today.

The Los Angeles public school district has unveiled a similar testing program costing $150 million. They are using this testing to determine if and when it’ll be safe for brick-and-mortar teaching.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said that COVID-19 has been rising among school-aged children in the U.S. as many returned to classrooms.

Health officials across the country are telling Americans to get a flu shot this month to avoid the twin epidemic of COVID-19 and the flu, according to the Associated Press.

Europe is also encouraging its residents to get their flu shots as well. Manufacturers have produced a record number of doses, with as many as 198 million doses expected in the U.S.

Not all the vaccines will be shipped at once, and there are sporadic reports of pharmacy and clinics being temporarily out of stock.

Vaccine makers say the shipments are still coming. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that while demand may be high at the moment, don’t get frustrated if a local doctor’s office or drugstore is out of stock, and keep trying.

Scientists are starting to unravel one of COVID-19’s scariest mysteries, according to the Associated Press.

Researchers have been questioning why only some people develop mild or no symptoms once infected, and others rapidly die. An international team of researchers found that in severe COVID-19 cases, the body goes rogue and attacks its own key immune defenses instead of targeting the virus.

This reaction happens to men more often than women. Separate research also suggests that children generally fare better than adults thanks to their still-robust “first responder” immune cells. As people age, these cells generally wane, which may cause severe COVID-19 illnesses in older adults.

The Walt Disney Co. plans to lay off 28,000 workers in both of their California and Florida theme parks. Due to pandemic restrictions, the company has been struggling with limits on park attendance, according to NPR.

Two-thirds of the planned layoffs are part-time workers, but the employees range from salaried to hourly positions. Disney closed their parks last spring as the pandemic gained steam and started spreading across the U.S.

While the Florida parks have reopened during the summer, the Anaheim, California parks have yet to reopen due to California’s COVID-19 tiered reopening plan.

Over 3,000 individual international studies are being conducted on COVID-19. People who are interested in volunteering to take medication or vaccinations for science can sign up at clinicaltrials.gov, according to the Associated Press.

Currently, older adults, people with severe illnesses and pregnant women are typically excluded from volunteering. Many mid-stage studies need a few hundred people as a baseline to collect more safety data. From there, final-stage studies commence, and scientists will need tens of thousands of volunteers that reflect a diverse population before medication or vaccination can get on the track to approval.

Several drug studies are running in California, including in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, and Fullerton.

The Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce has raised $1 million to create a “resiliency fund” to help support Black-owned businesses stay afloat during the pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

This is one of several funds across the U.S., and it’s a nod to the disproportionate impact the virus has had on African American families and the difficulty Black businesses have in getting bank loans. The grants continue a tradition of Black people helping each other in times of need, says the chamber’s CEO, Cathy Adams.

Other community organizers in Portland, Oregon, have raised more than $1.7 million to help Black residents with rent, groceries and bills.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the state is showing some signs of a potential new uptick in COVID-19 cases, according to the Associated Press.

Newsom said this could prompt another shutdown of businesses and further delay school openings. While the number of positive cases in California has improved over the last few weeks, the governor is concerned about the “reproduction number” or “R number” in several highly-populated areas.

When the reproduction number is greater than one, that means the virus is spreading. The “R number” is very close to one in the San Francisco Bay area and parts of Southern California. Still, Newsom’s administration plans to lift more virus restrictions in some counties on Tuesday.

The city of Stockton along with a number of partners secured a $4.3 million grant from the state to provide a home for those with disabilities, mental and health challenges, and those who are among the hardest to house.

The location is a former 39-unit motel. Project Homekey will provide a permanent housing solution with the purchase and renovation of the Town Center Studios on North Wilson Way.  

Mayor Michael Tubbs says it’s all part of the strategic plan.

“We don’t have enough places for people not be homeless and this grant through Project Homekey is a large step in that direction,” he said. 

Continuum of Care Chairman John Mendelson says more projects like this one are still needed.

“Developing at least 200 more units of this type of housing with permanent supports for this population by the year 2025,” he said.

Nevada state health officials confirmed 373 new cases  over the weekend that  along with three additional deaths, bringing the statewide totals to 78,728 cases, and 1,585 known deaths since the pandemic began, according to the Associated Press.

A day earlier on Saturday, the state’s Department of Health services reported 602 new cases, the highest count since August 29, along with nine additional deaths.

Out of the nearly 79,000 Nevada cases, a majority have been in Clark County.

Since studies suggest that people can be asymptomatically infected, and many people have not yet been tested, the total number of infections is thought to be far higher.

Mild to moderate coronavirus symptoms such as fever and cough, generally clear up in two to three weeks, but in older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe illnesses like pneumonia and death.

Over 23 “business navigators” across Sacramento  County are being sent to restaurants, shops, and more to talk about distancing, masking and sanitizing, CapRadio’s Sammy Caiola reports.

The neighbor-to-neighbor approach is the first step. County health officers and other officials may show up if that doesn’t work.

“And in every single instance after we’ve talked with them and followed up, usually with an unannounced visit, they’re usually following the guidelines,” County Health Officer Dr. Peter Beilenson said. “We’re finding [that] the education is making a big difference.”

Community members say it took months of phone calls and speaking out at board meetings to get the county to invest in these diverse neighborhoods, leaving many other businesses to shutter their doors.

Folsom State Prison has reported its first inmate death related to COVID-19 as the virus rapidly spreads through the facility.

According to state data on COVID-19 in correctional facilities, the prison has reported 537 new COVID-19 cases in the past 14 days, including 491 inmates still in custody. The Sacramento Bee first reported the death of an inmate this weekend.

Overall, at least 1,245 inmates at Folsom State Prison have tested positive since the start of the pandemic, more than half of the 2,403 people currently incarcerated at the prison. 

Sunday, September 27

California State University, Long Beach announced Saturday it would place all students who live on campus in quarantine after five students tested positive for COVID-19.

The university is also stopping in-person instruction for two weeks to allow for contact tracing and testing staff members who may have come in contact with the students. Facilities will also be cleaned and disinfected.

In a statement, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley said that university officials found out late Friday that some students had “congregated socially off campus earlier this month.” 

Colleges around the country have faced COVID-19 outbreaks as students return to classes. This week San Diego State reported 20 new cases, bringing its total to 933.

California has begun to see early but concerning upticks in coronavirus data after a period of decline. 

California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Friday the increases include the case rate, hospital emergency department visits for COVID-19 and new hospitalizations for confirmed or suspected cases. Ghaly says the trends appear largely attributable to the Labor Day holiday and could lead to an 89% increase in hospitalizations in the next month.  

Ghaly noted the state is heading into another hot weekend which could increase people gathering with others. He urged renewed efforts to prevent spread.

California next year will close a Central Valley prison holding about 1,500 male inmates.  

The decision announced Friday is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest step to reduce the state’s incarceration footprint partly in response to the coronavirus and massive related budget cuts. 

Officials say shuttering the 67-year-old Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy will save about $182 million annually. A series of new laws and ballot measures over nearly a decade significantly shrunk what once was the nation’s largest state prison population.

Newsom also approved the earlier releases of more than 10,000 inmates in response to the pandemic.

Elementary schools across the state have been applying for waivers to resume in-person teaching, but a picture of disparity is emerging, according to CalMatters.

At least 25% of California’s K-6 private-schools, totaling more than 500 schools, have had their waivers approved, versus only 1.6% of public schools, totaling around 120 schools. Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Rovert Levin says, “If we’re educating kids in private schools and not educating kids in public schools, then what’s going to come out of that is an education and class difference, ultimately.”

Reopening private schools has fewer obstacles than reopening public schools. Often, private institutions may not have teachers unions, or only have to get a buy-in from a smaller subset of their local community. As different counties move at different speeds through the coronavirus risk tier system, this could set off an imbalance in education, as some districts remain distance-learning.

The Sacramento Running Association announced today that they are canceling this year’s California International Marathon because of COVID-19.

Despite working on setting up health and safety protocols for the event, the association felt that the experience would have been too much of a departure from previous years.

“We know there has been an anxious strain on our registrants as we worked through our options,” organizers wrote in a statement. ” As one of the last events on the calendar, we felt like it was our responsibility to continue to ride the waves of change as a potential beacon of hope in what has been a volatile 2020.”

Registrants who signed up back in April received a voucher code in their emails today that would allow them to sign up for free for any of the three races planned for 2021-2023.

With flu season arriving, California health officials are worried about a twin pandemic with COVID-19, according to the Associated Press. This year’s flu season could overwhelm hospitals that are also dealing with coronavirus patients.

California Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly joined with the heads of the state’s hospitals and medical associations in urging people to get the flu shot now. Ghaly said that while the state has seen progress in the recent weeks with a drop in positive COVID-19 cases, officials expect an uptick as the economy slowly opens.

The openings make it critical for hospitals to keep bed space available. Officials said hospitals in the state are currently treating 3,500 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients, of which about 30% are in intensive care units.

The Pac-12 is set to start up a six-game football regular season on Nov. 6.

The Pac-12’s CEO group of university presidents voted unanimously to lift a moratorium on athletic competition for schools and resume football and basketball. This means men’s and women’s basketball seasons can start on Nov. 25, in line with the NCAA’s recently announced opening date.

The conference’s football championship game will be held Dec. 18.

This move follows the Big Ten overturning its August decision to postpone its season until spring over concerns about playing through the pandemic.

Young children who had their preschool cut short in the springtime are being held out of kindergarten enrollment at a higher than average rate as many school districts begin the year online, according to the Associated Press.

This is raising concerns that the pandemic could have an outsized impact on the country’s youngest students. A University of Oregon survey found that this month, 17% of parents were delaying sending their children to kindergarten– a stark contrast to the typical yearly rate of 4%.

School districts in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee, are among those reporting drops in enrollment.

Dr. Aimee Sisson, who resigned as  public health officer and public health director for Placer County this month, will start as the health officer for Yolo County on Oct. 26.

Yolo County announced Wednesday that the county board of supervisors had approved Sisson for the position. Yolo’s former health officer retired in June.

Sisson left her post in Placer County after the board of supervisors there terminated their local public health emergency around COVID-19. Supervisors cited economic concerns, and wrote in a statement that, “the circumstances that led to proclaiming the original emergency no longer exist.”

Yolo County’s emergency order is still in place. 

“I am leaving Placer County because it became clear that I could no longer be effective in my role,” Sisson said in a prepared statement about the move. “An important role of the health officer is to serve as an adviser to the Board of Supervisors. When a Board of Supervisors no longer seeks the advice of its health officer in making public health decisions, that health officer is ineffective.”

Several public health officers have resigned or retired during the pandemic, with experts saying burnout and conflict with government officials are major factors.

In Yolo County, Sisson will serve only as public health officer — in Placer County she was also the public health director. She wrote in her statement that no longer wearing “two hats” will allow her to “focus on health officer duties.”

She says the demographics of Yolo County create unique challenges that she’s ready to face, such as the prevalence of older adults, the large number of farmworkers and the presence of a large university. 

“The County has responded well to these challenges and I have no doubt that we will continue to do so together,” she said. 

Public health officers will likely continue to face public pressure to reopen as counties move to less restrictive orders under the state’s new tiered system.

Monday, about 100 demonstrators gathered outside Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s private home in Las Vegas to protest the state’s mask mandate, according to the Associated Press.

The political action committee No Mask Nevada planned the  protest after Sisolak implemented the order, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The group ballooned to nearly 100 demonstrators after starting with a smaller gathering of about 50 people.

A member of the governor’s medical team, Brian Labus, says that surgical and cloth masks effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Nevada has relied heavily on molecular tests to gauge the spread of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. As the federal government deploys 150 million antigen tests, the state is weighing how to best report data from different kinds of tests, according to The Associated Press.

Nevada is one of the more than 20 states that don’t report complete data on antigen tests to the public. Decisions over how to interpret the less reliable but faster tests could affect decisions about Nevada’s future pandemic directives, capacity limits on public places, business closures and the face-covering mandate.

California nail salons Tuesday joined barbershops and hair salons in being able to operate indoors with modifications no matter what COVID-19 tier their county is in. 

“Understanding the number of steps they can take to make a lower risk environment for both staff and customers with some new addition to that sector guidance and how to set up operations in a way that is lower risk,” state Health and Human Services Director Mark Ghaly said.

But Ghaly cautioned that California’s reopening must remain slow and stringent and residents cannot let their guard down as flu season arrives and cases rise in Europe and other parts of the U.S. 

Frustrated business owners, including operators of Disneyland, are pushing for a broader and swifter reopening plan. The state has had more than 15,000 deaths and 780,000 confirmed cases, the most cases in the country.

Some Northern California counties have moved into a lower COVID-19 risk tier in the state’s color-coded system, according to data released by the California Department of Public Health.

El Dorado, Lassen, and Nevada counties all moved from tier two, representing a substantial risk level, to tier three, lowering the risk level to moderate.

In tier three, these counties can slowly open up more businesses like bars, distilleries, and indoor playgrounds with modifications. Solano County has moved to tier two from tier one, while other counties like Butte, Glenn and Sacramento are still in tier one with widespread risk.

The NFL has fined several coaches $100,000 and their teams $250,000 each after they ignored a warning that they had to cover their noses and mouths throughout games.

The guidance on face coverings came in a strongly-worded memo from Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent, encouraging coaches and teams to heed the warning lest they put the fledgling season at risk during the coronavirus outbreak.

While players have been taking daily COVID-19 tests, and the teams are going to great lengths to make sure they play this season, coaches have been defying the face-covering mandates.

The U.S. men’s soccer team’s October matches are canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The team will be limited to a maximum of three games in 2020, the fewest since 1987.

The U.S. Soccer Federation is attempting to schedule a pair of friendly matches instead for Europe in November. The team has only played one match this year against Costa Rica on February 1, in Carson, California. The score was 1-0, with the U.S. men’s team winning.

World Cup qualifying was rescheduled to start in June 2021, but CONCACAF said it will be postponed again.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak says he doesn’t plan to take back $8.9 million in coronavirus relief dollars that the state allocated to Douglas County, despite local officials previously agreeing to allow President Donald Trump to host a campaign rally earlier this month, according to the Associated Press.

Nevada provided those relief funds on the condition that the county enforces statewide directives, including limiting public gatherings to 50 people. Douglas County officials said they weighed First Amendment concerns with state directives before deciding to allow the rally, which jeopardized the funds.

Sisolak said he ultimately chose not to rescind the funds and not punish residents for their officials’ decisions.

A coronavirus outbreak at a college has pushed one of California’s largest counties to the brink of more business shutdowns. 

It’s a dizzying and discouraging turn of events for San Diego County and its 3.3 million residents. Less than a month ago, San Diego was the only county in Southern California to advance to a second tier in the state’s four-tiered reopening template for counties. But more than 800 cases at San Diego State University changed the outlook. 

On Tuesday, the state will update the state’s reopening situation and it’s expected San Diego will fall back to the most restrictive tier. Among other things, that means restaurants couldn’t offer indoor dining.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign challenging Nevada’s new vote-by-mail law. 

Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in several states over voting rules and had asked the judge to block a new Nevada law that calls for mail-in ballots to automatically be sent to all active voters, a change prompted by the coronavirus. The campaign has argued the law is unconstitutional. 

The judge says the Trump campaign made allegations that were policy disagreements but did not show any constitutional harms.

Nevada state health officials reported 385 new positive COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths, according to the Associated Press. This news increases the statewide totals to 75,804 cases and 1,531 deaths since the pandemic began.

The state’s Department of Health Services officials say that nearly 64,000 cases have been in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. The AP analyzed data from John Hopkins University that showed the seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases and deaths in Nevada have been declining over the past two weeks.

The infection number is thought to be much higher because many people have not been tested and others may be asymptomatic carriers.

Despite three quarters of the country’s movie theaters reopening, Americans aren’t interested in movie night, even with newly released films, according to the Associated Press.

Big studio releases like Warner Bros.’ “Tenet”, Disney’s “The New Mutants”, and Sony’s “The Broken Hearts Gallery” have all continued to limp along. Disney’s “Mulan” plunged 72% in its second weekend in China due to audiences mostly rejecting the live-action remake.

California will not be processing new unemployment claims for the next two weeks as the state works out a plan to tackle the backlog of nearly 600,000 claims and prevent fraud, according to the Associated Press.

The pause was announced on Saturday. Backlogged unemployment claims have not been processed for more than 21 days due to outdated technology converging with the state’s unprecedented wave of new claims. Statewide, more than 2 million people are out of work.

California’s death count from the coronavirus has surpassed 15,000 even as the state saw widespread improvement in infection levels.

A tally by Johns Hopkins University put California’s death toll at 15,026 on Sunday, the fourth highest in the country.

New York has suffered by far the most deaths — 33,081 — followed New Jersey, which has about half as many. Texas is third.

California has had the most confirmed virus cases in the country with about 775,000 but key indicators have fallen dramatically since a spike that started after Memorial Day weekend prompted statewide shutdowns of businesses.

California’s unemployment rate fell to 11.4% in August. The Employment Development Department says the state added 102,000 jobs last month. Most of those were government positions, including temporary positions for the U.S. Census.

California lost more than 2.6 million jobs in March and April because of the coronavirus. The state has regained nearly a third of those jobs. But experts warn other indicators show the state’s economy has stalled with no quick recovery in sight. 

Restaurants and other hospitality businesses have been the hardest hit. The industry lost another 14,600 jobs in August with coronavirus restrictions still in place across much of the state.

Northern Nevada schools reopened last month, with some students on campus and others online. Since then, COVID-19 cases have been climbing among students and staff. 

So far, 27 students and 17 staff members in Washoe County School District have tested positive.

Superintendent Kristen McNeill says many of those cases are no longer active.

But district staff are working with public health officials to provide contact tracing in the schools where cases have appeared.

“We’re in contact with them on a daily basis,” McNeil said. “They have diverted resources to pediatric contact tracing and then we actually have employed two employee health nurses to help on the staff side.”

McNeill says it doesn’t appear community transmission is happening on campuses. About a third of district students are enrolled in full-time distance learning.

Unemployment in the Sacramento area is still high compared to last year at this time, before the pandemic. 

Numbers out Friday show the jobless rate was 9.4 % in August, up about 5.5 percentage points from August of last year. But that 9.4% is down from July’s rate of 11.6%. 

“We did see a decline in the number of unemployed from July to August,” said Cara Welch with the state Employment Development Department. “We are gaining some of the jobs back that were lost during the month of April when the unemployment rate drastically increased. So we are seeing a rebound of some of those jobs.”

Including sectors like government, which gained 7,000 jobs; professional and business services, which saw a month-over increase of 2,500 positions; and health and education services, which gained 1,200 jobs.

California schools that haven’t resumed in-person instruction will not be allowed to do so if the counties where they are located are moved to a more restrictive tier due to rising virus cases. 

The state says K-12 schools can reopen in a county once it has been moved out of the most restrictive purple tier — which signals widespread virus transmission — for two weeks. 

A recent rise in coronavirus cases tied to San Diego State University could push San Diego County to the most restrictive tier when the state’s color-coded system for business reopenings is updated next week. Some districts there had set campus return dates in the coming weeks.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Thursday that will require employers to alert their employees if they’ve been potentially exposed to COVID-19 while at work, according to The Sacramento Bee.

AB 685 requires employers to provide a written notice to employees and subcontractors instructing them to self-isolate after potential exposure from a co-worker that either tested positive for COVID-19 or has been instructed to self-isolate.

The notice must be delivered within one business day after finding out about a potential infection.

The pastor of a San Francisco Bay Area church that racked $112,000 in fines for defying the local public health order by holding indoor services has begun holding services in the church parking lot.

KGO-TV reports Pastor Jack Trieber of the 3,000-seat North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara said he will hold services outdoors until health officials give the green light to indoor services. County officials told the television station there were no plans to forgive the fines and that the county’s enforcement action was over because the church was complying.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed two bills into law that are aimed at protecting workers from the coronavirus. 

One of them makes people who have the coronavirus eligible for workers compensation benefits. Another requires companies to warn their employees if they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus. 

Business groups opposed both laws, calling them vague and unworkable. Newsom said Thursday that the laws prioritize the state’s workforce. He signed them during a Zoom call with supporters. 

The workers compensation law takes effect immediately. The notification law takes effect on Jan. 1.

Every county in California is in the process of trying to reopen as the threat of COVID-19 lingers. But the new state way of getting to a place of reopening is a four-tiered approach marked by colors. 

Purple indicates the most risk and yellow the least. Each tier represents a level of how open businesses can be.

Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye says the county could be leaving the purple tier around the middle of October. The county is reporting 9 cases per 100,000 residents each day, and must improve that to seven before the state will change its status.

“At the rate that we’ve been going, we feel that we can make that within the next couple of weeks. And our positivity rate is at 5.7%,” Kasirye said. “And so we have hit the mark to be able to move into tier two.”

About 16 counties are in the second tier, 10 in the third and only two counties have minimal risk: Alpine and Mono counties.

On Wednesday, the state reported 208 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 12 deaths, bringing the state’s total number of deaths up to 1,494.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced yesterday that California’s coronavirus caseload is down another 15% this week. The state’s test positivity rate is the lowest it’s been since May at 3.6%, while hospital and ICU rates are down 22%.

The governor warns that this good news doesn’t warrant a more relaxed attitude with mask-wearing or physical distancing, because the case numbers could go up again. 

However, the state is continuing to allow some significant reopenings, including some in sports. Newsom said that Pac-12 football could start up again, with restrictions.

Wednesday, September 16

The U.S. government is drafting a plan on how to make the future COVID-19 vaccines free to all Americans.

At the same time, top government health officials are being asked to answer on any political interference in government scientific information. The Associated Press reports that there may be an accompanying “playbook” for different localities and states.

Tuesday, September 15

After last weekend’s Nevada rally for President Donald Trump, health officials say they expect to see growth in their state’s coronavirus cases, according to the Associated Press.

Trump’s rallies in Minden and Henderson both violated the state’s 50-person cap on events. Thousands of mostly mask-less supporters attended both, with the Henderson rally being held indoors. This is the first rally Trump has held indoors since his one in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June. Health officials say that a surge of cases soon after was “likely contributed” by the rally.

As of Monday, Nevada had reported 73,814 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and 1,456 deaths.

Monday, September 14

Sunday, September 13

According to the California Department of Public Health, California has 754,923 confirmed cases to date.

On Saturday, there were 4,625 newly recorded confirmed cases. 

There have been 14,329 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. 

Saturday, September 11

Sacramento County has now recorded more than 20,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 350 deaths.

The county remains in the most-restrictive tier of the state’s new COVID-19 reopening plan. In the past week Sacramento has recorded 9.3 cases per 100,000 residents. It would need to improve to less than 7 for at least three weeks in order to move to a new tier.

While the majority of people who have died have been older than 80, residents in their 20’s are more likely to contract the virus. One out of every five people infected with the virus in Sacramento County have been between 20-29 years old.

Of cases where the race and ethnicity of the victim are known, 33% are hispanic or latino, compared to 23% for the county population as a whole.

A Nevada state coronavirus oversight panel says bars have to remain closed in Las Vegas, but can reopen in Pahrump and will be allowed to open next week in the Reno area. 

The COVID-19 task force cited a falling number of virus cases in Nye County for the Pahrump decision. Re-openings in Washoe County will begin next Thursday, subject to approval of enforcement measures for face coverings and a 50% capacity. 

About 30 local bar owners formed the Washoe County Bar/Taproom Coalition and agreed to comprehensive operating standards. The task force says Washoe County’s positivity rate is below 10% and trending downward.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed emergency legislation requiring paid sick time for more workers in the state exposed to COVID-19.

As an urgency measure, it goes into law immediately, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. Full-time workers in companies with 500 or more employees will be guaranteed two weeks of paid sick pay if they’re exposed.

The governor’s office says this bill fills in the gaps between a previously signed executive order and federal paid sick leave policy. Groups affected by this new law include employers with over 500 employees, food sector workers, and both public and private first responders and health care workers not previously covered by their employer under federal law.

The new bill also creates a pilot family leave medication program for small businesses and prohibits employees from pursuing civil action against a company until they complete mediation with the State Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

California’s typical turnaround time for coronavirus tests has dropped to less than two days. 

State health officials said Thursday that level allows for effective isolation and quarantine of those who are infected to limit the spread. 

Health officials said two-thirds of the test results are now available within one day, and nearly 90% within two days. That’s down from as many as seven business days last month. 

Improvements in capacity and turnaround will allow the state to soon begin what is commonly called surveillance testing.

California State University says classes at its 23 campuses will stay primarily online when the next term begins in January due to expected increases in coronavirus cases later this year. 

Chancellor Timothy White informed faculty, staff and 480,000 undergraduate students of the decision Thursday. White says the decision was based on factors like the need to publicize course offerings and enroll students for the next term as well as forecasts that infections will spike this winter. 

He also cited “an insufficient testing and contact-tracing infrastructure” as reasons for continuing the next term virtually.

Due to the impacts of wildfires in the area, Butte County is temporarily allowing restaurants to resume indoor dining services.

Restaurants that open indoors can only operate at 25% capacity and must place tables 6 feet apart. Servers and customers must also wear face coverings.

Once the air quality has improved, restaurants will be required to go back to only operating outdoors, per state COVID-19 guidelines.

Around 20,000 people were asked to evacuate Tuesday night into Wednesday when the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex, grew by 97,000 acres in a single day. Three people have died in the fires.

President Donald Trump’s plans to hold weekend rallies in Reno and Las Vegas are in jeopardy after local officials warned they would violate Nevada’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people because of the coronavirus. 

Trump’s Nevada campaign co-chair Adam Laxalt said in a Twitter post today that both events to be held at airport hangars Saturday in Reno and Sunday in Las Vegas had been canceled. 

The Nevada Independent reported that Reno airport officials warned a company that planned to host the rally at a private hangar that it would be in violation of both the state’s virus restrictions and the lease of the hangar.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has relaxed coronavirus restrictions in five more counties. 

As of Tuesday, Amador, Orange, Placer, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties each moved to a less restrictive classification in the state’s new tiered system. The announcement means the state has now eased restrictions for more than 8 million people living in three of the state’s most populous counties — San Diego, Orange and Santa Clara. 

Hospitalizations are down 24% over the past two weeks. But the Newsom administration is taking it slow by requiring counties to meet benchmarks for two consecutive weeks before they can be upgraded. 

As of Tuesday, 33 of the state’s 58 counties are listed in the top tier of the state’s coronavirus tracking system.

Sacramento County says it has substantially improved turnaround time for coronavirus testing. Dr. Olivia Kasirye is the county public health officer. She says testing hit a wall a few months ago.

“There were not enough appointments available, and also there was a very long turnaround time for results,” Kasirye said. “As long as 7 to 9 days in some situations.”

She said  a national shortage of supplies contributed to the breakdown. Now, the county aims to return results in 24 to 72 hours. 

Kasirye  said a recent partnership with biomedical company StemExpress has allowed the county to increase capacity at its ten testing sites. There are also plans to extend hours of operation in September.

As the pandemic enters its sixth month in the United States, mental health conditions are rising. A new bill on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would dramatically expand what insurance companies have to cover.

“It’s a problem that existed before COVID, and COVID has made it worse, by exacerbating depression, anxiety…” said Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who authored the bill. “We are seeing people who were in recovery from addiction who are now falling off the wagon relapsing.”

The state already requires health insurers to cover treatment for some mental health conditions, but critics say that many conditions are left out of coverage.

Insurance companies and business groups both oppose the expansion. The insurance companies claim that this bill would put too much extra strain on an already burdened healthcare system, especially in rural areas. Business groups, however, argue that the expansion would raise premiums for employers.

Officials in Reno-Sparks announced a new COVID-19 tracking tool that shows the risk of community spread on a daily basis with the hope that it will lower the risk of transmission by giving residents an easier to read summary of the pandemic. 

The Truckee Meadows COVID Risk Meter weighs five different statistics: requests for COVID-19 tests, the rate of new infections, test positivity rate, hospitalizations and hospital capacity.

Jeremy Smith, director of the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency, volunteered to create the risk meter by using his background in data analysis.

“What our model is trying to do is add it up,” he said. “Are all of these things up at the same time? And if they are then we should be thinking as a community about altering our behavior to bring them back down.”

The tool uses a color-coded system like the EPA’s AirNow website or Washoe County’s burn codes, which tell residents when they’re allowed to have wood fires. 

Sparks City Councilman Kristopher Dahir said the meter will be a “tool of hope,” by making COVID-19 updates more digestible than the more complex data dashboards offered by the state and Washoe County. 

“It gives us the ability to see what’s happening and not surprise us so much,” he said.

Woodland Christian School in Yolo County has been granted a waiver to reopen in-person instruction for students. It’s the first elementary school in Yolo County to be approved for this waiver.

Schools in counties on the state’s COVID-19 watch list had to apply for a waiver from local public health authorities in order to do in-person learning. Yolo County had been on the watch list since July 8. The waiver is only applicable for grades TK-6.

The watchlist has since been replaced by the state’s new tier system, which places Yolo County in the most-restrictive tier.

Woodland Christian School has made multiple changes to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including hiring extra staff, creating protocol for responding to staff or students who get COVID-19, implementing necessary health and safety measures and developing outdoor instruction space, according to the county.

Yolo County has also received six other waiver applications that are currently being considered.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell considerably in August from 10.2% to 8.4%, the Associated Press reports.

Despite this fall, hiring slowed down in August as employers added the fewest jobs since the pandemic began. According to the Labor Department, employers added 1.4 million jobs in August, down from 1.7 million in July. Only about half of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have been recovered.

Butte County is dealing with a large increase in COVID-19 cases. 

The County’s public health department reports the biggest rise in numbers among people ages 18-to-24 living near the Chico State campus. Of the 557 positive cases from August 24-31, around 78% were 18-to-24 year olds. 

While Butte County’s Public Health agency says it can’t confirm all the cases were college students, the increase coincides with the start of classes. Butte CountyPublic Health Director Dannette York said the county will remain in the state’s most restrictive coronavirus category unless everyone is taking precautions.

“If college-age individuals do not join the fight and follow those mitigation efforts, or non-pharmaceutical interventions, of social distancing and wearing face coverings, then our cases will continue to climb and we will stay in this most restrictive tier,” York said. 

Meanwhile, Chico State has revised reopening plans to move to fully online courses for the rest of the fall semester. It also required most students living in campus housing to move out of their dorm rooms and apartments.

Athletics right-hander Daniel Mengden has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

He is asymptomatic but is quarantined at home in Houston, where he received the result. The A’s had a three-game series at Seattle postponed as well as last Sunday’s scheduled series finale at Houston, where the A’s learned of the single positive test. 

Oakland general manager David Forst says Mengden was placed on the 10-day injured list. The A’s have added new left-hander Mike Minor to the 40-man roster. He was acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers.

The Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley church in rural Nevada is again trying to persuade the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals that the state’s 50-person cap on religious gatherings is unconstitutional, the Associated Press reports.

The church filed new briefs with the court Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to suspend the restrictions in a 5-4 decision in July. They argue that parishioners’ religious freedoms are being violated, and that the cap on religious gatherings while allowing Nevada’s casinos to operate at 50% capacity puts profits ahead of the First Amendment.

California lawmakers are looking into possible fraud at the Employment Development Department, according to the Los Angeles Times. Some Californians have been concerned about fraud after receiving letters from the EDD addressed to strangers.

The letters are addressed to unrelated people and often come with debit cards loaded with cash. California residents aren’t the only ones receiving letters from EDD; some former residents in states like Florida and Connecticut have also been receiving letters for claims they didn’t file.

The EDD declined to comment on the number of fraudulent cases being investigated. These concerns come as Californians across the state have been left without crucial joblessness benefits after frustrating experiences with the EDD.

As of Sept. 2, at least 304 Sacramento County residents have died of complications from COVID-19 since the pandemic began earlier this year. 

More than half of these people, 176, were residents of the city of Sacramento. There have been 18,413 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sacramento County.

For more information on the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths in every California county, see our COVID-19 tracker.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting heat over a solo hair salon visit in San Francisco at a time when California businesses are limited by concern over coronavirus. But she says she was complying with the rules as presented to her by the salon. 

Footage aired by Fox News Channel shows Pelosi, her mask around her neck rather than on her face, walking through the establishment. A stylist follows her wearing a mask. 

The salon owner said she rents chairs to stylists, and one let her know that Pelosi wanted a wash and a blow dry. Outdoor haircuts are allowed, but indoor salons have not reopened.

Since April, California has provided temporary housing for 22,000 people in a program created to get the state’s unhoused population in rooms amid the pandemic. But the focus needs to shift, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press conference Wednesday.

“That was an emergency response,” Newsom said. “Now we need a permanent response, and I’ve long believed that homelessness is solved by permanent, supportive housing.”

Newsom says “Roomkey” is now merging into “Homekey,” a partnership with state and local governments to spend $600 million to buy hotels, motels and apartment buildings statewide by the end of this calendar year. 

Cities, counties, local housing agencies and tribal authorities have until September 29 to apply for the funding. Only $50 million of the “Homekey” money comes from the state’s General Fund.  The extra $550 million comes from federal coronavirus relief funds which must be spent by the end of the year.

Watch Gov. Newsom’s full press conference here.

After five months of being closed to the public, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is facing a projected loss of $45 million this year, according to Yahoo News. 

Furloughs and layoffs have affected 220 of their 580 employees. Since the nonprofit has over 500 employees, the aquarium did not qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable coronavirus loan through the federal government. 

The aquarium has had to scale back their conservation work, like reducing plastic pollution and climate change, due to its scaled back budget. 

A grand reopening was planned for July 9, but it was cancelled a few days before because Monterey County had just been placed on the state’s COVID-19 watchlist.

California has inked a $15 million deal with a software company to develop a new COVID-19 tracking system. 

The announcement Tuesday came about a month after the state said its current system had undercounted confirmed cases. The problem had serious implications, since the state uses those numbers to make decisions about reopening businesses and schools. 

Officials say the deal with Minnesota-based OptumInsight Inc. will allow the state to better track the spread of the virus. California has more confirmed cases than any other state. But recent trends show those numbers dropping, and the percentage of positive tests is also declining.

El Dorado County could move from the state’s “substantial” coronavirus risk category to the lower “moderate” one in the week of Sept. 21.

To move down, the county needs to stay below four new cases per day on average and keep a test positivity rate below 5% over the next 14 days, according to El Dorado County Public Health.

In assigning El Dorado County to the substantial tier, the second-most serious in the new system, the state used the county’s data from the week of August 5-11. Counties have to remain in their assigned tier for three weeks before moving to a less restrictive one. Then, the county can move as long as the number of cases and the test positivity rate meet the less restrictive tier’s requirement in the two most recent weeks.

“El Dorado County’s numbers in the two criteria the State is currently using to determine reopening have been trending relatively lower over the last two weeks,” El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams said in a news release. “The best and easiest way to help ensure we move to the Orange tier in the week of September 21st is for residents and visitors to continue to follow the State’s mandates for face coverings, avoid gatherings with and remain at least six feet from others outside your household and wash your hands.”

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced plans to extend the state’s eviction moratorium another 45 days.

This move will provide relief to an estimated 250,000 renters facing the prospect of losing their housing due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Sisolak made the decision yesterday, one day before the previous moratorium was set to expire. Fears of a widespread eviction crisis in the state have been compounded by delays in state assistance and programs, like unemployment insurance.

Nevada’s moratorium is now set to expire Oct. 16.

A study shows California’s stay-at-home order in response to the coronavirus outbreak seems to have saved some wildlife, as decreased traffic resulted in fewer collisions with mountain lions, deer and other large animals. 

A study by the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis found traffic declined by about 75%  after the emergency order went into effect in March. The number of animals struck and killed by vehicles also fell, including a 58% decrease in fatal crashes involving mountain lions between the 10 weeks before and 10 weeks after the order.