Covid-19 update: Case totals increase with backlog data, court moves jury selection to event center

Bay Area county health departments are starting to receive some of the backlogged Covid-19 data caused by technical issues with the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system. 

As data is verified and processed, county dashboards will be updated with accurate test results and case numbers. County officials warn that anyone watching dashboards may see an increase in cases as the backlog is entered.

U.S.

  • Confirmed Cases: 5,193,266
  • Deaths: 165,934

Source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center COVID-19 global tracking tool as of Wednesday at 6:27 p.m.

CNN reports that the U.S. has a deal with Modena Inc. for $1.525 billion to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of the drug company’s Covid-19 vaccine once approved by regulators. 

Under the deal, the U.S. would have the option to acquire an additional 400 million doses.

If the doses are used in a Covid-19 vaccine campaign, they would be administered to Americans at no cost, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday.

Clinical trials are underway to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective. Moderna is just one of several drug makers currently working to develop and test a vaccine. 

Jesse Garnier SFBay U.S. Covid-19 tracker highlighting a total of 591,376 cumulative cases in California as of Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.
Open SFBay USA coronavirus tracker.

California

  • Confirmed Cases: 589,238
  • Deaths: 10,699

Source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center COVID-19 global tracking tool as of Wednesday at 6:27 p.m.

The California Department of Public Health Tuesday said they have addressed the technical issues with the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system, known as CalREDIE, and have processed a backlog of approximately 300,000 records.

Local health departments are beginning to receive some of the backlogged data and are entering the data into their own databases. Cases will be attributed to the reporting date. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom reported Wednesday at a Covid-19 press briefing that an additional 11,645 cases had been reported Tuesday. The figure includes a backlog of 6,212 cases and 5,433 new cases.

SFBay tracking shows another 12,430 confirmed cases reported Wednesday.

Jesse Garnier SFBay Covid-19 Bay Area dashboard reflecting the seven-day average of daily new cases, last calculated Monday, Aug. 10, 2020.
Open SFBay Bay Area coronavirus dashboard in new window.

Alameda County

  • Confirmed Cases: 13,664
  • Deaths: 205

Source: Alameda County Public Health Department as of Wednesday.

The county has been on the state’s monitoring list for a month now and continues to lead the Bay Area with the highest number of Covid-19 cases.

Alameda County added 446 new cases since SFBay’s update Monday. No deaths were recorded in that time. The county hit a peak of 350 new cases in a single day on August 6, though that figure will likely increase once backlogged data is entered.

As of Monday, a total of 166 Covid-19 patients were admitted in hospitals — 56 were in intensive care units.  

Contra Costa County

  • Confirmed Cases: 10,103
  • Deaths: 149

Source: Contra Costa Health Services as of Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

County health officials said Wednesday that they will need to add thousands of backlogged data to its Covid-19 data systems due to issues with the state’s CalREDIE system. Officials warn that data may change as far back as mid-July.

The county said they’ve already received 4,500 new records from the state’s Department of Public Health and have begun the process of verifying and adding new cases to the Covid-19 dashboard.

In another separate issue, county officials said they are working with Kaiser Permanente and CDPH to resolve a data issue, which prevented 8,000 to 10,000 records from being entered into Contra Costa County’s database over the past three weeks.

Once that issue resolves, the public can yet again expect to see large data changes, officials said.

Jesse Garnier SFBay Covid-19 dashboard highlighting Contra Costa County, Calif. deaths by day as of Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.

Ten deaths were reported between Monday and Tuesday, half were from inside long-term term care facilities

Marin County

  • Confirmed Cases: 5,583
  • Deaths: 81

Source: Marin Health and Human Services as of Wednesday.

*Marin County began reporting San Quentin State Prison cases separately, but for the purposes of tracking actual infections and potential impact on hospitalization rates, we’ve included inmate cases with the county’s cumulative total. However, staff member infections are being included in the individual’s county of residence reporting.

In preparation for the school fall semester, Marin County health officials said Wednesday they have revised restrictions for childcare and youth programs. New guidelines go into effect August 17.

The guidelines apply to youth sports, including basketball, football, gymnastics and dance. Sports that cannot be played with enough distancing or cohorting are still prohibited.

Brendon Connelly Marin County, Calif. revises guidelines for child care and youth sport programs, allowing for activities where distancing can be observed. The changes go into effect Aug. 17, 2020.

The revised guidelines increase the maximum group size to 15, allows youth to participate in up to two programs concurrently and requires programs to last a minimum of three weeks programs but does not require a minimum number of days per week.

All sports programs must happen outdoors and youth must stay 6-feet apart.

San Quentin State Prison

There are now 104 San Quentin State Prison inmates with active infections. The prison has identified 32 new cases in the last 14 days, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

To date, San Quentin has had a total of 2,232 inmates and 272 employees test positive for the virus.

Napa County

  • Confirmed Cases: 1,142
  • Deaths: 11

Source: Department of Health and Human Services as of Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

The county has seen more than 100 new cases per week, a trend since July 31. Despite only adding 13 new cases on Wednesday, Napa County warns they are affected by the issues with the CalREDIE system and will need to add backlogged records, which could increase the region’s case count.

Still, the county says 1,059 new cases were identified between mid-July and August 7.

San Francisco

  • Confirmed Cases: 7,834
  • Deaths: 67

Source: San Francisco Department of Public Health with data reported through Tuesday. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed Tuesday unveiled her proposed spending plan to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, which totaled an approximate $446 million for operations, housing and shelter programs, staffing and food programs.

The spending plan is part of the mayor’s two-year budget now making its way through the legislative process. 

Heidi Alletzhause Clergy and doctors gathered in protest at San Francisco, Calif. Mayor London Breed’s home on Thursday, April 30, 2020 to call for immediate shelter of homeless residents amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, Department of Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said the reproduction rate of the virus is between 0.95 and 0.98, though he was cautious, saying the figure only represents the last several days.  

The City has seen a drop in hospitalizations since July 30 when there were 114 Covid-19 patients in hospitals citywide. Of the 114 patients, 38 of them were in the ICU.

As of Monday, a total of 94 patients were in the hospital and 33 of the 94 were in the ICU. 

San Mateo County

  • Confirmed Cases: 6,535
  • Deaths: 122

Source: San Mateo County Health Department with data reported through Tuesday.

San Mateo County Superior Court officials said Tuesday that jury selection for rescheduled trials will move to the San Mateo County Event Center in order to allow prospective jurors room to distance.

The court may also move jury selection for trials scheduled at the Northern Branch court facility in South San Francisco. 

San Mateo County The event center in San Mateo County, Calif. which was once set up as a 250-bed hospital Covid-19 surge center will now be used for jury selection.

Neal Taniguchi, court executive officer, said in a statement that the event center offers a bigger and better ventilated space to keep prospective jurors safe during the interview and selection process. 

The court hopes to address a backlog of trials caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Tanigchi said. 

While jury selection will take place at the event center, trials will take place in Redwood City or South San Francisco courtrooms.

Prospective jurors will be notified sometime after Sept. 7 if they have been chosen for jury duty.

Santa Clara County

  • Confirmed Cases: 13,059
  • Deaths: 207

Source: Santa Clara County Public Health as of Wednesday.

The Mercury News reported Tuesday that Santa Clara County supervisors approved an ordinance to establish civil fines for individuals and businesses that violate local health orders.

Santa Clara County now joins a host of other Bay Area counties already issuing citations with fines for mask and other health order violations.

The ordinance allows a maximum fine of up $500 for individuals and up to $5,000 for businesses. The county will allow a grace period of 24 to 72 hours for correction. The individual or business must report back to the county to avoid the ticket.

People can also appeal the ticket in writing within 10 days.

Solano County

  • Confirmed Cases: 4,141
  • Deaths: 41

Source: Solano Public Health as of Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

Jesse Garnier SFBay Covid-19 dashboard comparing case trends in Sonoma and Solano counties as of Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.

Sonoma County

  • Confirmed Cases: 3,825
  • Deaths: 51

Source: County of Sonoma with data as of Tuesday.

Global

  • Confirmed Cases: 20,532,835
  • Deaths: 747,845

Source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center COVID-19 global tracking tool as of Wednesday at 6:27 p.m.

Open SFBay Worldwide coronavirus tracker.

BBC News reported Tuesday that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin claims his country has developed a vaccine that has passed all regulatory requirements and there are plans to distribute in October.

Putin also asserted that his own daughter was given the vaccination dubbed Sputnik-V.

The U.S. top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News that he has doubts about Russia’s claims.

Fauci said:

“I hope that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. I seriously doubt that they’ve done that.”

Last modified August 12, 2020 11:12 pm

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.

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