SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The holidays may be over, but its effects could be felt for weeks to come.
COVID-19 cases continue to rise and ICU beds dwindle in the Greater Sacramento area. Data released by the state reflects the number of beds in the area, making it impossible for the area to stay home after three weeks.
“We’re just 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 creative adjustments and support from regulars. The restaurant is one of many affected by the closure and can only serve takeout.
“For us, we are doing 20% of what we should be doing,” said Roehr.
Although he feels that a loss of sales cannot be compared to a loss of life.
“Doing what’s safe will be the most important thing,” he said.
Deaths, hospitalizations, and COVID cases have soared in California in recent weeks. Currently, ICs in the Greater Sacramento area are 93% full, forcing the area to remain closed.
“Will we ever get back to normal?” asked Mark Shepherd from Sacramento. “That is the question.”
The answer – “normal” is probably months away, but it could come sooner to get out of the stay-at-home order. To do this, the state relies on an area’s ICU capacity projections over a four-week period to make its decision.
Their projections are based on four key data: an area’s current regional ICU capacity, community transmission, number of cases, and proportion of ICU admissions.
A region may abandon the order when those four week projections reflect an ICU capacity of 15% or more.
“It’s pretty clear we don’t have a handle on what’s going on,” said Ron Stark.
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Stark said he feels frustrated and concerned that things are about to get worse now that the holidays have wrapped up for the season.
The space in the IC is already narrow with little room to grow. People like Shepherd beg the public to listen to health officials and follow protocols.
“I think everyone is thinking, ‘Well, I didn’t catch the virus, I’m not going to catch it,’” he said. “You are wrong – you can, and it is very easy to catch it.”
To give an idea of how quickly ICU capacity in the area has shrunk, the Greater Sacramento region had 11% of their ICU beds on Friday, and only 7% on Saturday.