The new Santa Cruz County shelter-in-place order to slow the coronavirus COVID-19 does not close parks or beaches but Dr. Gail Newel, the county health officer, warned Thursday that future use will depend on how well people follow the edict for social distancing — staying six feet apart and not gathering in groups.
“We haven’t had crowding at the beaches,” she said. “If we do, I will close the parks and beaches.”
Newel spoke at a press conference to update the public on the COVID-19 situation, which has closed public schools until the end of June and forced hotels and tourist attractions to close as they are not deemed essential.
The county has 57 cases confirmed by testing, including one under age 18, and one death. Most are between 18 and 64, with 13 over age 65.
Older people and those with underlying conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes are at higher risk of serious illness. A study by Italy, which reports 18,000 fatalities, found 75 percent of the people with COVID-19 who died had high blood pressure. Another 35 percent had diabetes and a third had heart disease.
Newel said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has analyzed this. Their preliminary report posted March 31 found 78 percent of 457 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital intensive care unit had one or more underlying conditions; the most common was diabetes, followed by heart disease, high blood pressure, then lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Some countries have reported COVID-19 tests to be unreliable. Spain complained the rapid nose swab test produced by a Chinese company was only 30 percent accurate, but Newel said that’s not an issue for Santa Cruz County, which has sent specimens to the nearest state lab in Santa Clara County and got “closer to 90 percent” accuracy.
A sample of the early test kits provided by the CDC.
The county has done 150 tests at the state lab and 300 at commercial labs. Testing equipment ordered by the county and by Dominican Hospital will make more testing possible. However, tests are reserved for those with symptoms and health care workers.
Newel said the county does not have statistics on test accuracy at private labs such as LabCorp and Quest because the companies haven’t shared the information.
She did say Quest had a capacity of 1,300 COVID-19 tests per day and was getting 10,000 to 15,000 per day, resulting in “a very slow turnaround, two weeks or more.”
Asked about an NPR report asserting Santa Cruz County had only six ICU beds per 100,000 people, Newel said that was not accurate.
“We had 25 ventilator ICU beds at baseline,” she said.
Mimi Hall, director of the county’s Health Services Agency, said plans are to expand to 50 beds.
Dr David Ghilarducci
Dr David Ghilarducci, the county’s EMS director, is setting up an alternate care site with ICU beds at the county’s Simpkins Family Swim Center. He said he needs people to staff it, nurses, LVNs, paramedics, emergency medical technicians.
“We need housing for the staff,” he added. “They don’t want to take the virus home to their families.”
The last time there was an all-hands-on-deck moment like this, he said, was World War II.
During the Vietnam War, first-year resident physicians, who have completed their medical school studies, were sent overseas before they had the experience of seeing and treating patients, he said.
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Those interested in staffing the Simpkins facility are asked to apply at healthcorps.ca.gov or covid19.ca.gov.
Story By Jondi Gumz