Santa Clara County Reports 1,848 New Coronavirus Cases, 29 Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 1,848 additional coronavirus cases Friday.

The latest report brings the countywide case count to 80,466.

The county reported 29 additional coronavirus-related fatalities Friday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 843.

There were 707 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county as of Friday of which 163 were being were being treated in intensive care units

Elsewhere around the Bay Area and beyond, the City of Monterey's Aloha Coffee and Cafe and its owner have received a temporary restraining order to close shop after repeated COVID-19 safety violations, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced on Thursday.

The order requires the owner, Richard Dunnuck, to close the business until he obtains a valid food service permit as well as complies with the state's Regional Stay at Home Order and face covering orders.

Dunnuck lost his food service permit in early December after he, his employees and customers violated the face covering requirements on multiple occasions, Deputy District Attorney Emily Hickok said.

Santa Clara County officials are urging all health care workers in the county to get vaccinated for COVID-19 now that they are eligible.

The news comes after the state's public health department expanded eligibility on Thursday to include all health care workers under any tier in Phase 1A of vaccine distribution.

This means those who are in the second and third tiers of Phase 1A, including those in intermediate care facilities, community health workers (including promotoras), public health field staff, primary care clinic workers, workers at specialty clinics, labs, dental clinics, and pharmacy staff, can get vaccinated.

Initially, only staff at acute care hospitals and dialysis centers, medical first responders, and staff and residents at long term care facilities were eligible for the vaccine.

Reports that the more contagious new U.K. variant was spreading in the U.S. are erroneous, The New York Times reports.

The reports were based on speculative comments made by Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, the report said.

Santa Clara County has now confirmed 60 coronavirus cases at Kaiser Permanente's San Jose Medical Center and has finedthe health care company $43,000 for failing to promptly report the outbreak, the county said Thursday.

The 60 cases have been confirmed since Dec. 27, according to the county, and are believed to be tied to a staff member wearing an inflatable Christmas tree costume in the facility's emergency department on Christmas Day.

The costume's fan likely blew coronavirus particles into the facility, which a hospital official characterized on Monday as "completely innocent and quite accidental."

The staff member had no symptoms at the time.

At least one death has been confirmed among the 60 cases, according to a spokesperson for Kaiser.

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There have been 2,619,829 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 29,106 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Friday night according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 21,862,771 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 368,773 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Friday night.

There have been 88,859,245 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,913,379 coronavirus-related deaths reported globally as of Friday night.

— Bay City News contributed to this report