SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The holidays may be over, but their effects may be felt in the coming weeks.
COVID-19 cases continue to rise and intensive care beds are shrinking in the Greater Sacramento region. The data published by the state reflects the number of beds in the area, which made it impossible for the area to leave the home order after three weeks.
“We’re glad we’re still here,” said Edward Roehr, one of the owners of Magpie in downtown Sacramento.
Roehr is grateful that the restaurant is still standing, thanks to the creative adaptations and the support of the regular. The restaurant is one of many affected by the stop and is only able to serve food.
“For us, we do 20% of what we should do,” Roehr said.
Although he believes that the loss of sales cannot be compared to the loss of life.
“Doing what is safe will be the most important thing,” he said.
Deaths, hospitalizations and COVID cases have risen in California in recent weeks. Currently, the ICUs in the Greater Sacramento region are 93% full, which has forced the area to remain blocked.
“Will we ever return to normal?” asked Mark Shepherd of Sacramento. “This is the question.”
The answer – “normal” is probably still a few months away, but the exit from the home stay order could come sooner. To do this, the state relies on projections of an ICU capacity of an area over a four-week period to make the decision.
Their projections are based on four key data elements: the current regional capacity of the ICU, community transmission, case rates and the proportion of ICU admissions.
A region is able to leave order when these four-week projections reflect an ICU capacity of 15% or more.
“It’s pretty obvious we have no problem with what’s going on,” Ron Stark said.
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Stark said he’s frustrated and worried things are going to get worse now that the holidays are over for the season.
The space in the ICU is already small, with little room to grow. People like Shepherd advocate for the public to listen to health officials and abide by the protocols.
“I think everyone feels ‘Well, I didn’t catch the virus, I’m not going to catch it,'” he said. “You’re wrong – you can, and it’s very easy to catch her.”
To get an idea of how quickly the ICU capacity in the area shrank on Friday, the Greater Sacramento region owned 11% of their ICU beds, and on Saturday, only 7% remained.