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COVID updates: Hospitalizations slowing in California, but not in all counties

California’s coronavirus transmission numbers continued to improve over the weekend, and hospitalizations also showed signs of slowing, as the state appears to have passed or nearly passed the worst of its omicron surge.

However, COVID-19 case and positivity numbers remain well above pre-omicron records, and not all regions are rebounding at the same pace.

The California Department of Public Health in a Monday update reported the daily COVID-19 case rate at 236 per 100,000 residents, down about 19% in the past week from a peak of about 291 per 100,000.

Statewide test positivity fell to 20.4% for its lowest reading of 2022, down from a peak of 23% earlier this month.

CDPH reported 11 counties with positivity rates of 30% or higher. Those were Riverside and Imperial counties in Southern California, plus nine rural counties across Northern California and the Central Valley: Merced, Fresno, Yuba, Tulare, Stanislaus, Trinity, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Sutter.

Positivity rates are also slightly above the state average in most of the Sacramento region.

CDPH reported 15,204 patients were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 statewide as of Sunday.

That total had increased by more than 150 patients each day from Dec. 26 through Jan. 19, but has started to trend down with some fluctuations: it dropped by 10 patients Thursday, then increased by about 50 on Friday, then fell about 250 on Saturday before ticking up by about 20 on Sunday.

If hospitalizations did peak late last week, it would be about 10 days after the peak in case rate, which crested around Jan. 9.

In previous surges, hospital trends have lagged infections by about two weeks — but because omicron tends to create shorter hospital stays than with previous variants, the delay may be a few days shorter.

If the peak has already passed, it maxed out at roughly 15,500 patients — several thousand short of the winter 2020 record of close to 22,000 concurrent virus patients.

Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month said that state health officials had projected that the state would exceed that record by early February.

Where are hospital numbers improving in California?

The statewide hospital tally is starting to fall as patient numbers drop in Los Angeles County along with most of Southern California, which combine for a large share of California’s population. Some Bay Area counties are also seeing decline, though hospitalizations are still rising in San Francisco and San Mateo.

Other regions of the state, including Sacramento-area, Central Valley and rural Northern California counties, have continued to see steep inclines.

Sacramento County hospitals were treating 639 confirmed virus patients last Friday, an all-time record 23% higher than the county’s pre-omicron maximum of 518 patients in December 2020.

Friday’s total included 125 in intensive care units, five patients shy of the winter 2020 record. Patient totals have since fallen to 623 hospitalized with 110 in ICUs.

Nearby Placer County also set a record, spiking to 257 hospitalized virus patients Saturday, CDPH data show. That broke the previous high of 231 set in August, during the delta variant surge. Placer had 47 in ICUs, nine shy of its all-time record.

Bill would eliminate K-12 personal belief vaccine exemption

State Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, on Monday unveiled a bill that would require K-12 students in California to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend school in person, unless they have a medical exemption.

The Newsom administration in October announced a mandate requiring students to be vaccinated once the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to COVID-19 vaccines for their age groups. That hasn’t happened yet, but it could by this summer for high school students.

Under state law, a vaccine requirement imposed by executive order must allow for personal belief as well as medical exemptions. Only a legislative change can eliminate the personal belief exemption.

Pan’s proposed bill would do that, effectively adding COVID-19 to a list of other immunizations such as polio, measles, tetanus, hepatitis B and chickenpox that are required to attend school in-person.

“We need to give parents and school districts certainty about what they need to do to be sure we keep schools open and keep them safe,” Pan said. “Gov. Newsom got out front, he issued his executive order, but a state law would make it much more certain and less likely to be challenged in court.”

Debate over vaccine legislation has grown heated in recent years, before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

Latest Sacramento-area numbers

Sacramento County has recorded 245,872 total lab-confirmed cases and 2,624 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to local health officials.

The county as of Monday reported the daily case rate at 167 per 100,000 residents, declining about 33% from an all-time high of 239 per 100,000 recorded 10 days earlier, according to the local health office.

According to CDPH, Sacramento County’s latest test positivity rate is 23.6%.

County hospitals were treating 623 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as of Sunday, up from 547 one week earlier. The ICU total has increased from 96 to 110.

Placer County has tallied 53,343 cases and 513 virus deaths to date, last updated Friday.

Local health officials last reported the daily case rate at 165 per 100,000 for the week ending Jan. 10.

Placer’s positivity rate is 24.7%, CDPH reported Monday.

Placer County hospitals had 253 COVID-positive patients Sunday, up from 215 one week earlier. The ICU tally increased to 47 from 35.

Yolo County has confirmed 29,115 infections and 269 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Friday.

The county’s latest reported case rate is 206 per 100,000, for the week ending Jan. 15.

CDPH reports Yolo County’s positivity rate at 8.6%, the lowest among all of the state’s 58 counties.

Yolo County hospitals were treating 21 patients with COVID-19 on SundayThursday, up from 17 one week earlier. The ICU total increased to five from four.

El Dorado County has reported 22,948 cumulative cases and 182 deaths from COVID-19, last updated Friday.

El Dorado’s latest reported case rate, for the week ending Jan. 14, was 141 per 100,000.

The county had a positivity rate of 22%, CDPH reported Monday.

Hospitals in El Dorado County had 19 COVID-positive patients Sunday, up from 14 a week earlier. Five patients were in ICUs, up from two.

Sutter County has recorded 18,721 cases and 207 deaths, and Yuba County has recorded 14,510 cases with 95 deaths, according to a Thursday update from the bi-county health office.

CDPH reported Yuba County at 182 daily cases per 100,000 and Sutter County at 166 per 100,000 as of Monday. Positivity was 32.1% in Yuba and 29.7% in Sutter, according to CDPH.

The lone hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist Health and Rideout in Marysville, as of Sunday had 63 patients with confirmed COVID-19, up from 44 one week earlier. Seven were in the ICU, up from five.

The Bee’s Sophia Bollag contributed to this story.