More Californians test positive for COVID-19 in latest public health report

The percentage of Californians testing positive for COVID-19 climbed to 10.5% over the last seven days, up from 8.6% a week earlier, the state Department of Public Health reported Friday,

The overall number of cases dropped to 37.5 per 100,000 state residents over the last seven days from the 41.1 per 100,000 reported Tuesday, but the latest case rate was above the 34.6 per 100,000 reported a week ago.

On average, 12 deaths were reported daily in California during the seven-day period through Thursday, down from 14 one week ago.

Public health officials also noted that 2,741 hospitalizations statewide, down from 2,687 a week ago. However, the number of people in intensive care units rose to 319 from 294 in the comparable period a week earlier. According to the latest statistical analyses, unvaccinated people were 7.4 times more likely to be hospitalized and 10.5 times more likely to die than boosted individuals.

The respiratory disease has ranked as the third leading cause of death for all Californians amid the pandemic, coming in behind heart disease and cancer. Among people ages 35 to 54, however, COVID-19 actually has killed more Californians than cancer, making it the second leading cause of death in this age group.

Yet many residents have ditched masks indoors or in crowds, although public health officials have strongly recommended their use and have noted that new variants of the disease appear to be more contagious than the original coronavirus and the delta variant.

Psychologists told The Sacramento Bee that there are many factors that affect whether people will take recommended precautions against COVID-19. One such factor is pandemic fatigue, an emotional overload that leaves people feeling angrier, more impatient, sadder, or number than they normally would.

‘People feel depleted’

“It is natural that people feel depleted after more than two years of trying to navigate the ongoing uncertainty and changing conditions with COVID, and it is challenging to stay vigilant for extended periods of time,” said psychologist Bethany Teachman, director of clinical training at the University of Virginia. “People are also responsive to cues in their environment, so when mask mandates are lifted and they see others not wearing a mask, that serves as a signal that perhaps masks are not needed and that the norms have shifted.”

Baruch Fischhoff, who studies how people make decisions and evaluate risk at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said that there’s a lot of misinformation about COVID-19 that affects people’s choices and that, from the beginning, the public didn’t receive a clear message from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What’s generally true is that people do things that they think are worth the effort,” he said. “It’s been an effort all the way, given everything that we’ve all gone through (in the COVID-19 pandemic). People are less willing to make the effort if they see less risk, and there’s lots of reasons to see less risks, some of it legitimate, some of it not.”

Even when the public has clear instructions on masking, they don’t always follow it, as Davis resident Megan Lynch discovered when she went for an appointment in an outpatient clinic at UC Davis Health.

Lynch said she was dismayed to see an unmasked patient step into a waiting room in the Glassrock Building where she was waiting to get a hearing test at UC Davis Health. All hospital communications to her had noted that masks were mandatory, she said, and there were signs in the lobby and the elevator. A tray of masks greeted patients before they could walk into the waiting room.

Lynch said as she waited to be allowed in to her appointment, a man arrived unmasked and checked in.

“He stood at the desk while the office staff did not once ask him to put a mask on before serving him,” Lynch said. They just let him proceed through the check-in process. I couldn’t believe it.”

Lynch said she has medical conditions and physical traits that make her vulnerable to a severe case of COVID-19, should she get infected, so she asked the office personnel to call her when it was time for her appointment and went to wait outdoors.

She later discovered that they wouldn’t do that and ended up missing the appointment she had worked hard to get, she said.

Lynch said UCD Health wouldn’t allow her to see an ear, nose and throat specialist until she’d had the hearing test, but they also wouldn’t enforce a rule that made access safe for her, Lynch said.

UC Davis Health spokesman Steve Telliano said The Bee had not provided enough time to investigate Lynch’s complaint, so system leaders would be unable to make any substantive comment or to determine whether it actually happened.

Lynch, a graduate student at UC Davis, said she’s felt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that she would be better off delaying or denying herself care because of the risk of exposure to someone infected with COVID-19. This experience, she said, reinforced her concerns.

Sacramento-area numbers by county

Sacramento County’s latest case rate is 40.1 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in Tuesday’s update, a 4.6% increase from one week earlier.

Hospitals in Sacramento County were treating 195 virus patients Thursday, state data show, up from 191 one week earlier. The intensive care unit total decreased to 27 from 28.

Placer County’s latest case rate is 27.2 per 100,000 residents, up 1.5% from one week earlier.

Hospitals in Placer County were treating 75 virus patients Thursday, down from 68 one week earlier. The ICU total fell increased by one patient to five.

Yolo County’s latest case rate is 42.7 per 100,000 residents, up 23% from one week earlier.

Hospitals in Yolo County were treating five virus patients Thursday, up from four a week earlier. The ICU total increased to three from one.

El Dorado County’s latest case rate is 26 per 100,000 residents, up 13% from one week earlier.

Hospitals in El Dorado County were treating 8 virus patients Thursday, down from 12 a week earlier. The ICU total increased was at zero after three were in intensive care last week.

Sutter County’s latest case rate is 26.1 per 100,000 residents, up 15% from last week, and Yuba County’s is 33.5 per 100,000, up 34%, state health officials reported Friday.

The only hospital in Yuba County, which serves the Yuba-Sutter bicounty area, was treating 8 virus patients Thursday, down from 14 a week earlier. The ICU tally increased remained at zero.

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