Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to send signals that he may be weeks or perhaps days away from beginning to reopen the California economy, albeit slowly. He’s compared it to sliding a dimmer switch incrementally on.
In contemplating how to do that, he has acknowledged the state is not a single geography, and the coronavirus assault has not hit all parts of the state at the same levels.
A Sacramento Bee review of infection and death rates in each of the state’s 58 counties shows vast differences in the depth of the crisis, notably between lightly-hit rural and harder-hit urban spots. The rural north state in particular stands out with lower rates.
The numbers help explain why some rural counties are pushing the governor to rescind or loosen his statewide “stay at home” order for their areas. On Tuesday, El Dorado County officials said they would let their stay-at-home directive expire this week and urged Newsom to allow them to loosen restrictions in the county.
Notably, the infection and death rates in the state as a whole, as measured against state population, show that California as of this week has done much better than the nation.
Nationwide, there were roughly 305 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths per 100,000 residents as of Monday, according to Worldometer, much of it clustered in the New York and New Jersey area.
By comparison, California had 113 confirmed cases and 4.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations and serious cases has been holding steady for several weeks. An ongoing Bee analysis also shows a drop in the number of daily deaths for several days since a peak of 115 on April 23.
Sacramento County is faring even better than the state as a whole. In Sacramento County, there were about 67 confirmed cases and 2.7 deaths per 100,000 residents, as of Sunday.
Moreover, in Sacramento County, serious cases – as measured by local hospitalizations, intensive care unit patients and deaths – are all modestly down from the start of the month.
Rural areas of California are generally faring far better than urban areas. Across the state, in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents, there were about 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1.2 deaths per 100,000 residents as of Monday, far below statewide rates.
Infection and death rates are low in Placer and El Dorado counties. El Dorado County has yet to see a confirmed death.
Yolo County, on the other hand, has the highest death and infection rates in the Sacramento region: 72 confirmed cases and 6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents. Most of those came from one assisted care living facility in Woodland that has seen rampant spread of the virus.
Los Angeles County is quickly pulling away from the rest of the state. More LA residents have died of COVID-19 than residents of all other California counties combined, even though LA County is home to just about one-fourth of the state’s population.