Five Counties Come Off CA COVID-19 Watchlist

CALIFORNIA — After debriefing Californians on the catastrophic state of the 2020 fire season, Gov. Gavin Newsom offered some good news relating to COVID-19 Monday. There are now 35 counties on the monitoring list, down from 42 last week.

The following five counties were removed from the list over the last few days:

• Calaveras, 197 total cases
• Mono, 161 total cases
• Napa, 1349 total cases
• Orange, 45,954 total cases
• Sierra, 6 total cases

While these counties will be able to reopen schools for in-person classes after staying off the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days, official updated guidelines for businesses and other re-openings, have yet to be released.

Newsom also introduced a 5.7 percent positivity rate over a weeklong period but warned that Monday's reporting always reflects lower numbers since there are weekend reporting delays.

Nonetheless, that number has fallen from hovering around 7 percent in late July.

California COVID-19, By The Numbers:

Confirmed cases to date: 668,615
Note: Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed

More information at https://t.co/TLLUGx7imH. pic.twitter.com/FMIQDney2X
— CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) August 24, 2020

"Progress is being made across the spectrum on hospitalizations, ICUs and the positivity rate particularly over a 7 day period," Newsom said in his Monday afternoon briefing. "But we need continued vigilance during this very important period where we're battling these wildfires."

ICU capacity was also down 19 percent over a two week period, but 128 individuals were still dying every day in California.

Newsom also asserted that cases most likely wouldn't spike as a result of some 100,000 people evacuated from their homes over the last week amid wildfires.

The California governor visited several shelters and evacuation sites over the weekend and affirmed that each site in Northern California was enforcing strict mask guidelines, running temperate checks, questionnaire screenings, providing air purifiers and encouraging physical distancing between households.

Many of the congregate evacuation facilities had set up tents for families to have physical barriers separating households.

The majority of those evacuating, Newsom added, are not staying in congregate facilities, as 31 hotels across Northern California became available for evacuees to occupy over the weekend.

"We have sent surgical masks and N95s to [congregate] shelters," said Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Department Dr. Mark Ghaly at the noon press briefing. "[It] is probably the best solution for us to reduce COVID-19 transmission on the one hand and make sure that we don't have people suffering from the smoke quality issues in their communities."