Sacramento County’s public health officials said Thursday that while hospitalization rates continue to be a concern, there was room for cautious optimism about recent COVID-19 trends in the area. “It does seem like we might be on a downturn, but it’s a little early so we’re still cautiously optimistic,” Dr. Olivia Kasirye said during a media briefing Thursday. Kasirye noted, however, that hospitals remain near capacity. At last check, there were 400 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and 101 intensive care unit cases, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard. Kasirye also underscored the age breakdown and how more of the positive cases include children.”Twenty percent of our cases are in the age group 0 to 17, so there has been an increase in school-age children coming up positive,” she said. Last week marked the opening of the last major school district in Sacramento County as students within the Sacramento City Unified School District returned to the classroom.Nick Mori, Sacramento County Public Health program planner, said that the cases among children still appear to largely be “a byproduct of transmission occurring outside of the school, either in the home or in other activities,” although there is some transmission happening in schools. The county has a team that is working with schools to make sure that children are quarantined if necessary and schools have the testing resources that they need.Kasirye said that most of the cases among children are mild. “We are seeing some pediatric cases in the hospital. There’s a little bit of an increase there. But again, the majority of the hospitalizations are still among adults,” Kasirye said.Meanwhile, officials with the Sacramento-based company Sutter Health, which has hospitals around California, answered questions Thursday about the status of their critical care facilities. The biggest concern for an outbreak, they say, is people not getting vaccinated.”Across our entire system, a little over 450 patients are actually being treated in the in-patient setting with COVID-19. Of those, 87% are unvaccinated,” said Dr. Vanessa Walker, a pulmonary and critical care physician who treats COVID-19 patients at Sutter Roseville Medical Center. “So, I’m not worried about the breakthrough cases. I am worried about people that are unvaccinated coming in and being incredibly sick.”She added that 90% of the people in Sutter’s intensive care units who have COVID are also unvaccinated. “So, this is just further proof that we’re seeing every day in our jobs, in the real world, that people who are unvaccinated are disproportionately getting hospitalized and are affected so much by this virus,” Walker said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento County’s public health officials said Thursday that while hospitalization rates continue to be a concern, there was room for cautious optimism about recent COVID-19 trends in the area.
“It does seem like we might be on a downturn, but it’s a little early so we’re still cautiously optimistic,” Dr. Olivia Kasirye said during a media briefing Thursday.
Kasirye noted, however, that hospitals remain near capacity. At last check, there were 400 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and 101 intensive care unit cases, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Kasirye also underscored the age breakdown and how more of the positive cases include children.
“Twenty percent of our cases are in the age group 0 to 17, so there has been an increase in school-age children coming up positive,” she said.
Last week marked the opening of the last major school district in Sacramento County as students within the Sacramento City Unified School District returned to the classroom.
Nick Mori, Sacramento County Public Health program planner, said that the cases among children still appear to largely be “a byproduct of transmission occurring outside of the school, either in the home or in other activities,” although there is some transmission happening in schools. The county has a team that is working with schools to make sure that children are quarantined if necessary and schools have the testing resources that they need.
Kasirye said that most of the cases among children are mild.
“We are seeing some pediatric cases in the hospital. There’s a little bit of an increase there. But again, the majority of the hospitalizations are still among adults,” Kasirye said.
Meanwhile, officials with the Sacramento-based company Sutter Health, which has hospitals around California, answered questions Thursday about the status of their critical care facilities. The biggest concern for an outbreak, they say, is people not getting vaccinated.
“Across our entire system, a little over 450 patients are actually being treated in the in-patient setting with COVID-19. Of those, 87% are unvaccinated,” said Dr. Vanessa Walker, a pulmonary and critical care physician who treats COVID-19 patients at Sutter Roseville Medical Center. “So, I’m not worried about the breakthrough cases. I am worried about people that are unvaccinated coming in and being incredibly sick.”
She added that 90% of the people in Sutter’s intensive care units who have COVID are also unvaccinated.
“So, this is just further proof that we’re seeing every day in our jobs, in the real world, that people who are unvaccinated are disproportionately getting hospitalized and are affected so much by this virus,” Walker said.