Coronavirus updates: California alleviates testing backlog as other state counts surge

Although public officials warn that the coronavirus pandemic could be ramping up to reach new levels of intensity in the United States, there’s a little good news in the Golden State.

California has drastically cut down its COVID-19 testing backlog, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In a Saturday press conference, Newsom said that health officials had managed to shrink its pileup of pending tests by more than two thirds in less than a week.

The Associated Press reported that of California’s nearly 40 million residents, 126,000 people have been tested for coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19.

As of Friday, 13,000 of these tests were still pending results — down from almost 60,000 pending as of Thursday.

Thus far, fewer than 1 percent of Californians have been tested for the virus.

In more good news for the state, isolation and social distancing measures advocated by public officials appear to be paying off as California continues to be outpaced by other states who are adding new cases at higher rates.

Michigan, which has a comparatively small population relative to California of almost 10 million, has surpassed it in cases as of Sunday morning.

Michigan can now account for more than 15,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 617 deaths in its borders, while California has just over 14,700 cases and 339 deaths as of 4 p.m. Sunday, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University.

California Department of Public Health figures differ somewhat, reporting 13,438 cases and 319 deaths in the state.

Louisiana is also on a course to overtake California, with more than 13,000 positive cases and increasing morbidity. The southerly state has a population of more than 4.5 million.

As of Sunday afternoon, the coronavirus has infected more than 1.2 million people worldwide — which is near the entire population of the state of Maine. More than 69,000 patients have died of COVID-19, while nearly 260,000 have recovered.

In the United States, more than 335,000 people have been infected and 9,500 have died.

Sacramento County health officials have reported 442 positive cases, an increase of more than 50 in a single day, and 16 deaths, which jumped by six overnight.

New deaths came in Citrus Heights and unincorporated area of the county, each marking their first fatalities from the virus.

Meanwhile, Yolo County reported 37 cases and one death, El Dorado County reported 22 cases and no deaths and Placer County reported 103 cases and three deaths, up by one from Saturday.

Health officials at the federal level warn that numbers across the country could surge in the coming days.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House, warned Americans on Saturday that they may soon see a rapid spike in deaths.

“The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,” Birx said. “This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe.”

A Roseville church defies stay-at-home orders

A church in Roseville, rejecting California’s ban on large gatherings and its stay-at-home orders, has been holding services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Abundant Life Fellowship Church still held its service Sunday morning, although pastor Doug Bird asked congregants to stand six feet apart to maintain social distancing during worship.

Bird, who had previously posted on social media his intent to remain open, told parishioners on Sunday that the church would be transitioning to virtual services in the future — largely due to public backlash.

In an interview with The Sacramento Bee, he raised questions regarding the enforcement of California’s isolation measures and lamented the criticism his church drew from the public.

“I think this is the sign of the end times, this will usher in the mark of the beast,” Bird said.

Although Roseville police observed the church from a distance, officers in Lodi took action when faced with another defiant congregation.

Cross Culture Christian Center worshipers, gathered for a curbside service were confronted by Lodi police officers who convinced them to break up the gathering. The church was barred from its worship hall after its landlord locked them out at the request of public health officials.

Instead, officers allowed Pastor Jon Duncan to briefly pray with members who drove up to the church.

Court denies inmates’ release

A federal court issued an order Saturday rejecting an emergency plea to release thousands of California inmates during the coronavirus pandemic.

After holding a hearing on Thursday, the three-judge court said they could not approve the release per a 2009 order limiting state prison levels.

“That order was never intended to prepare Defendants to confront this unprecedented pandemic,” the judges wrote. “Nor could it have, given that the entire world was unprepared for the onslaught of the COVID-19 virus.”

The judges instead directed attorneys for the inmates to seek remedy through class-action inmate care lawsuits that could allow the panel to appraise the issue again in the future.

Coronavirus continues to appear in California prison inmates, posing a serious threat to the population. Eight inmates have tested positive in the state so far.

“The real risk here is that COVID-19 will quickly run rampant in CDCR, causing many thousands of people to become critically ill, and those people will then require intensive, resource-consuming health care in community hospitals that already are on the verge of being overwhelmed,” attorneys for the inmates wrote. “Only by reducing the prison population to the point where effective preventative measures can actually be employed to slow transmission can this catastrophic outcome be mitigated.”

Pandemic makes homelessness state priority

California’s governor announced this week that the state has acquired the resources to house thousands of homeless people in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re already seeing hundreds and hundreds of individuals off the streets and sidewalks,” Newsom said on Friday outside a West Sacramento hotel where 30 homeless people have since been housed.

The governor previously signed an executive order last month permitting the state to acquire hotel rooms and housing facilities as temporary homeless shelters.

On March 18, Newsom authorized $150 million to fund the homeless relief campaign, purchasing trailers and leasing hotels as the first step toward housing.

As of Friday, California officials had identified 7,000 out of 15,000 rooms for homeless people who tested positive for COVID-19 or those who may have come into contact with the virus.

California did, in a ”matter of days,” Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, said, what “used to take decades.”

At least 870 homeless people have been put into housing since mid-March, according to Newsom.

New York Tiger tests positive for COVID-19

A tiger kept at the Bronx Zoo in New York City tested positive for COVID-19, zoo officials said Sunday, and other big cats are showing symptoms.

Nadia, a 4-year-old Malay tiger, received a positive test result from zoo officials, while two other tigers and three lions also displayed a dry cough.

While they are all expected to recover, its the first time a tiger has been confirmed to have the virus.

Zoo officials believe an asymptomatic caretaker may have infected them.

The zoo has been closed since March 16 and the cats will remain under veterinary supervision.

Dogs and cats have tested positive for COVID-19 previously, but researchers suggest that animals cannot transmit the disease.

Fired Navy commander tests positive

Capt. Brett Crozier, the Navy officer who was fired as commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after raising concerns over the presence of coronavirus aboard the aircraft carrier, has tested positive for the virus.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Crozier had been showing symptoms before being removed from the Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday.

The San Francisco Chronicle previously acquired a letter the Navy captain wrote — which he sent via an unsecure channel — which detail his concerns over the virus and pleaded for immediate action.

In response, Thomas Modly, acting secretary of the Navy, fired him, citing the unsecured release of the letter, which warned that “there will be losses to the virus.”

Earlier this week, the aircraft carrier was docked in Guam, where 2,700 of its sailors were evacuated to curb the spread of the virus.

What is COVID-19? How is the coronavirus spread?

Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”

Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.

This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: California alleviates testing backlog as other state counts surge."