The county announced a record 26 COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday amid dire warnings of dwindling hospital bed capacity.
Though the latest fatalities did not all occur on one day, they nonetheless represented the largest single-day addition to the region’s COVID-19 total. They ranged in age from 56 to 98 and all had other underlying conditions present in addition to testing positive for coronavirus infection.
And, just 20 percent of available intensive care unit beds remained unoccupied across San Diego County, with 140 out of 684 still available for additional patients. Tuesday’s new case total was 1,276.
Natasha Martin, a UC San Diego infectious disease modeler, told county supervisors during a biweekly COVID-19 update that at current admission rates, models predict that local intensive care units will reach full occupancy as soon as next week with hospital beds likely reaching a similar state by Christmas.
Because hospital and intensive care admissions tend to lag infection by two to three weeks, there is really not much anyone can do at the moment to dodge the hospitalization wave that is about to arrive, especially since new case totals have continued to run far over the 1,000 mark for more than a week.
That’s not to say that actions cannot be taken to spread out the load. Hospitals could intensify the current trend of delaying non-emergency surgeries and other procedures, or they could, with the cooperation of the state health department, consider using field hospital beds already set up and waiting at Palomar Medical Center Escondido.
County officials did not respond Tuesday to requests for more information on how hospital capacity will be collectively managed through 2020.
Modeling, which has generally tracked with actual infection rates, does suggest that the situation can begin to reverse itself about two weeks after the community decides to stop digging the hole any deeper.
“If we see a substantial reduction in mobility and movement, combined with high adherence to masks, we could see a very strong impact,” Martin said.
That message did not seem to have much traction with a very frustrated public. Many called in during Tuesday’s meeting to express their displeasure at the effects of the shut down, which has brought to bear even-more-significant levels of emotional and financial pain for many whose jobs cannot be performed remotely and for those who find themselves disconnected from cherished relationships.
County Supervisor Dianne Jacob urged everyone in San Diego County to “look in the mirror” to find who’s responsible. Too many, she said, have bought into a growing narrative that the disease is no big deal or a total fabrication.
“Just wear the damn mask; it’s that simple,” Jacob said.
Those words were punctuated later in the day by a jarring Amber Alert that blared out a COVID-19 transmission warning to every mobile phone in the region.
Not even kids dreaming of playgrounds could catch a break.
On a 3-2 vote, county supervisors denied a request from Supervisor Jim Desmond to direct county staff to refrain from enforcing the state’s latest closure of playgrounds, a move that is part of the larger shut-down package that will be in play for three weeks because Southern California’s collective intensive care unit availability dipped below 15 percent.
Desmond made the case that closing the places where many of the youngest burn off pent-up energy is simply a slide too far. Offered the opportunity to withdraw his motion when it became clear that it did not have backing from enough of his colleagues, the supervisor declined.
“I think this is very important to our community, to our kids, and I’m forced to do that,” Desmond said.
The majority, though, did not have his stomach for poking the governor in the eye.
“Defying these state orders, not only do I think is irresponsible, but also puts (us) in a position of civil disobedience,” Jacob said.
The county appears to be getting more punitive with its ongoing COVID-19 enforcement efforts. Working with deputy sheriffs, the county has now issued 140 cease-and-desist orders since the region entered the most restrictive purple tier of the state’s reopening system. About 12 percent of those who received the order, a county representative said, have refused to comply and have now had their information forwarded to the district attorney’s office for possible citations.
Those who do end up getting fined $1,000 are not likely to be able to fight the decisions before a judge anytime soon.
San Diego Superior Court has no trials planned through the end of the year, granting an extension for criminal trials that would otherwise be required by law to be held by Jan. 18, 2021. Potential jurors with summons through the end of the year will hear that their service is complete when they call for updates. Those with summons in the first few weeks of 2021 will still need to call in as required and may end up having to report for jury duty.
At San Diego federal court, all jury trials have been halted for at least the next month, the district court’s chief judge ordered on Monday. The order comes about three months after jury trials had slowly begun to resume at the court, with new public health restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
All other in-person criminal proceedings, such as guilty pleas, arraignments and sentencings, have also been generally postponed, according to the order.
However, individual judges retain discretion and are encouraged to hold such proceedings via videoconferencing or teleconferencing if they find that delaying would cause “serious harm to the interests of justice.” Judges can also decide to hold in-person proceedings on a case-by-case basis but “must consider in each individual case whether convening an in-person hearing poses a threat to health and safety.”
The court remains open for business.
The county also announced the appointment of a three-member “clinical advisory group for COVID-19 vaccinations” which, according to Nick Macchione, director of the county health and human services agency, will weigh in on whether local dose allocations reach the most disadvantaged segments of the community.
Members include: Dr. Gail Knight, chief medical officer of Rady Children’s Hospital; Dr. Ankita Kadakia, medical director of public health services for the county; and Dr. Rodney Hood, founder and chief executive of San Diego’s Multicultural Health Foundation.
Kristina Davis and Greg Moran contributed to this report.
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