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]]>HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania reported more than 800 new confirmed coronavirus cases Monday, as fresh concerns about it spreading prompted the cancellation of Monday night’s Major League Baseball game in Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 839 additional confirmed virus cases and four new deaths. The virus has infected more than 108,000 people in Pennsylvania since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 7,100 have died, most of them in nursing homes.
Of the new positive cases, more than 40% are from Philadelphia and Allegheny County, the department said.
In July, Pennsylvania’s 14-day rate of new cases per 100,000 residents has risen by more than 70%, from below 60 to almost 100.
The seven-day positivity rate — based on the health department’s daily public disclosures of the number of people who are newly confirmed to be positive and the number of people who tested negative — has gradually increased in July, from about 4.5% to almost 6%.
Deaths have declined from June to July, although hospitalizations are on the rise in July, according to state data.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is warning travelers visiting any of 20 states to self-quarantine for 14 days after returning to Pennsylvania.
It also two weeks ago imposed a new round of restrictions targeting bars, restaurants, nightclubs and indoor events and gatherings.
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]]>The post Map: More than 600,000 businesses got $150,000-plus PPP loans. Here are the ones near you that received them. appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The Paycheck Protection Program, or the PPP, criticized for helping many that don’t qualify as a small business, this month named all its large-dollar loan recipients.
The program has delivered more than $500 billion in close to 5 million loans to businesses across the United States, according to the latest report from the Small Business Administration. These loans “supported” more than 50 million jobs.
The program, part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, aimed to help small businesses stay afloat through the pandemic. Since its launch, the program has weathered more than one controversy, including the shut-out of underserved communities and businesses.
Of the almost 5 million loans, more than 4 million were for less than $150,000. Those loans made up less than $150 billion of the awarded $500 billion. The Department of the Treasury published more detailed records of the businesses that received more than that, and those businesses are mapped below. The data is not without its errors: Some businesses have been reported to have received money they didn’t actually get and did not apply for.
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]]>The post 14,000-plus people in Spokane County could have COVID-19 appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>SPOKANE, Wash. — As coronavirus cases spike throughout the country, the burden of disease in Spokane County could be much greater than what is known now.
Health officials reported on Wednesday morning that 1,416 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Spokane County since the pandemic began.
But there are likely 10 to 12 people who have had coronavirus but aren’t diagnosed for every positive case, said Providence Health Care’s chief medical officer Dr. Dan Getz. Many of those people may be asymptomatic.
That makes for 14,160 to 16,992 people in Spokane County.
Thirty-nine people have died since the pandemic began, including one person in their 30s. Health officials said on Wednesday that 34 people are hospitalized, with 19 of those being Spokane County residents.
The incidence rate of coronavirus in the county has tripled over the past few weeks — and health officials say they have “great concerns” as people head into the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Leaders from Providence and MultiCare, and Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz, answered a handful of questions on Wednesday from KREM reporters and others about coronavirus in Spokane County. Here are their answers.
Do local hospitals still have capacity — and when could they run out?
Dr. Getz with Providence said the system still has hospital capacity at its facilities.
However, health officials do anticipate that COVID-19 hospitalizations will double in Spokane County over the next two weeks as cases continue to climb.
If current predictions hold true, Spokane County’s incidence rate could reach that of Snohomish County, where hospital systems were overwhelmed, Getz said. But he was unable to provide a time frame for when that could happen.
“As this uptick in cases leads to more hospitalizations, the demands that COVID patients place on our systems will begin encroaching on our ability to care for other patients,” said Dr. Ben Arthurs, a pulmonoligst and intensivist with MultiCare.
How many beds are available at local hospitals?
There are 900 beds between Holy Family and Sacred Heart hospitals in Spokane, Getz said. This includes 54 beds in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart, along with the hospital’s Special Pathogens Unit.
Arthurs was not able to answer this question for MultiCare hospitals.
But Getz and Arthurs say the problem lies in staff to care for patients rather than beds.
“We’re already starting to look at getting travelers to come into our community to help staff up,” Getz said, adding that Spokane could reach a time like that of Yakima County where hospital capacity is overwhelmed.
“We have a lot of capacity to expand our ICU beds,” Arthurs added. “I think, again, that bottleneck is our personnel.”
While surge capacity is available right now, there could be problems if cases continue to drastically increase.
“If disease rates keep on doubling, we can’t keep on doubling our capacity,” Getz said.
What is the situation in intensive care units?
MultiCare has seen a “major uptick” in cases of critical illness over the last several weeks, Arthurs said.
He added that some patients are saying they experienced symptoms up to two weeks before landing in the ICU. This means there can also be a lag time between illness and critical illness, along with a lag in the spread of the disease itself.
“It’s also very emotionally taxing for our staff, particularly the bedside nurses that are there with them [patients] 24 hours a day,” Arthurs said.
Nurses in Yakima County are showing major signs of burnout, Arthurs said, and hospital systems in Spokane County are trying to avoid that outcome.
Arthurs also expanded on the symptoms of ICU patients. Most have respiratory failure, he said, but almost all of the people who are critically ill also have other organ system failures.
He also noted that there are elements of brain dysfunction, especially in ventilated patients who are on sedatives.
Most patients stay in the ICU for two to three weeks, with many surviving and going to the hospital floor, Arthurs said. But the recovery phase is often one to two times as long as the time a patient spent in the ICU.
Not all patients in the ICU have underlying health conditions, Arthurs said. He has also seen several patients under the age of 50 and some pregnant patients.
What does the curve look like in Spokane?
“We unfortunately are on the ascending portion of that curve,” Lutz said of Spokane County on Wednesday.
“The reality is that things that you do today, the behavior changes that we get people to follow through with today, are going to start to effect change in a couple of weeks,” he added.
All of the doctors who spoke on Wednesday urged people to wear face coverings. If 80% of people followed the statewide directive to mask up in public when they cannot physically distance, Spokane County would see a decrease in cases in several weeks, Lutz said.
What is the median age of people infected with COVID-19?
The median age of people diagnosed with coronavirus is sitting at 31 years old in Spokane County compared to 54 years old just several weeks ago.
“We truly have community spread. We truly have an outbreak that is not being contained at this point,” Lutz said on Wednesday.
For the week of June 22, 77.3% of cases had epidemiological links, according to data from the Spokane Regional Health District. Currently, 41.2% of reported cases for the week of June 30 have epidemiological links, and the trend line on Spokane County’s graph continues downward.
The data is forecasting that an increasing number of cases will come from community spread.
Could Spokane County move backward into Phase 1?
The short answer: We don’t know.
Benton and Franklin Counties, which have seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases, have discussed the possibility of moving backward into Phase 1, Lutz said.
He added that there are conversations about this happening with Gov. Jay Inslee and the state Department of Health.
“It really needs to be a collective effort to keep us from moving back,” Lutz said.
“Going into the July Fourth holiday, I think everyone at the state level – certainly everyone at the local level – is worried about our increasing case counts,” he added.
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]]>The post 6000-plus: California shatters its single-day record for most new coronavirus cases appeared first on Virus Reports.
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California shattered its single-day record for most new coronavirus cases Monday as the number of people hospitalized statewide due to the virus also reached record levels.
As of Monday evening, county health departments had reported more than 6,000 new cases, with several counties still yet to report, according to data compiled by The Chronicle. California hadn’t exceeded 4,515 new cases in a single day previously, according to the state’s health department.
Monday’s number included some counties reporting multiple-day totals after not updating their case counts over the weekend, and state officials note that daily case counts might not represent true day-over-day change due to lags in reporting of results.
However, officials in Los Angeles County, which reported a record 2,545 new cases Monday, noted that total reflected not just testing but a higher rate of tests coming back positive.
“Today marks the third day in a week that we have reported 2,000 or more cases of COVID-19,” county health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “And while some of the increases are due to test reporting issues, it is clear that much of the increase represents more community transmission.”
Officials said Los Angeles County’s average 8.4% positive rate over the last seven days is higher than its overall 8% rate and up from a seven-day average of 5.8% just 10 days ago.
“Throughout our recovery journey, we have said that it is likely that the number of cases will increase as more people are out of their homes and around other people,” the county health department wrote in a series of Twitter posts. “It is very important to watch how this increase in cases translates into hospitalizations over the next few weeks.”
In California, where many counties have eased shelter-in-place orders and eased economic and social restrictions over the past few weeks, the state health department reported its four highest one-day case totals last week. The state has recorded more than one-quarter of its total confirmed cases – more than 46,000 – in the last two weeks.
That is partly due to increased testing. But the statewide rate of positive tests has also ticked upward. California recorded a seven-day average positive rate of 4.89% last week, June 15-21, compared to 4.61% the previous week and 4.37% two weeks earlier, according to a Chronicle analysis of state data.
Gov. Gavin Newsom referenced the increases in new cases and positive tests in a news conference on Monday, saying: “We’re (not) out of the woods.”
Meanwhile, hospital cases of COVID-19 – which are viewed as a more reliable indicator of the virus’ trajectory as they are not subject to testing availability – have also been on the rise.
California recorded a new single-day high of 3,702 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases Sunday, surpassing its previous high of 3,572 hospitalizations reported Saturday.
The state reached an initial one-day peak of 3,497 confirmed hospital cases on April 29 and saw that number drop to 2,928 on May 29. It has risen steadily since, with Sunday’s total marking an increase of 24.5% over three weeks and 16.3% over two weeks.
The nine Bay Area counties surpassed 300 new daily cases for the first time June 12 and 400 for the first time June 17. Hospital rates in the region, though, have stayed mostly stable. Bay Area counties reported 244 confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals Sunday, identical to two weeks earlier and a 2.8% drop from four weeks earlier on May 24.
Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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