Coronavirus updates: Just 5 of over 50 new daily California deaths from Bay Area

Playgrounds and athletic courts in parks across San Francisco stand empty after enhanced restrictions closed them to the public. Playgrounds and athletic courts in parks across San Francisco stand empty after enhanced restrictions closed them to the public. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Coronavirus updates: Just 5 of over 50 new daily California deaths from Bay Area 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

LATEST, April 9, 7:45 p.m. Marin County reported just one new confirmed case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the lowest single-day total for the county since last Wednesday.

There were no new deaths, leaving the county's toll at 10.

The death toll across the entire state of California eclipsed 500 on Wednesday, with over 50 new reported deaths during the day. However, just five of those deaths came from the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that has seen 115 total deaths as of Wednesday evening.

The number of daily regional deaths is down from the 13 deaths recorded on Tuesday, the Bay Area's deadliest day of the outbreak so far. Of the five Wednesday deaths, three came from Santa Clara County, one came from Alameda County and another came from San Francisco County.

April 8, 5:30 p.m. Derick Almena, the Ghost Ship master tenant currently jailed on a no-bail status, will be released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin as the number of inmates infected with the coronavirus continue to rise.

Alameda County Judge Trina Thompson decided to release Almena after officials announced Wednesday that there are now 11 inmates at the jail known to have COVID-19. Almena's attorney, Tony Serra, told multiple news outlets, including KTVU and the Mercury News, his client has gained 60 pounds since his incarceration and has health issues that would make him high-risk for COVID-19 complications.

Almena is currently awaiting a retrial on charges of involuntary manslaughter after 36 people died in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in December 2016.

The District Attorney's Office opposes Almena's release.

“The District Attorney’s Office has consistently sought to have Mr. Almena remain in custody pending trial, and we have opposed every effort to release Mr. Almena to date," the office wrote in a statement, "We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision to release Mr. Almena from custody on electronic monitoring."

April 8, 4:30 p.m. Eight additional inmate cases of COVID-19 were reported at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County on Wednesday.

Officials announced Tuesday that there were three inmate cases of the virus in the facility, raising concerns of a potential outbreak.

In response, the jail has an "outbreak control plan" that includes frequent sanitization and restrictions on visitations.

"All persons, including staff, outside law enforcement partners, and contractors are medically screened prior to entering SRJ," county officials wrote in a news release. "Currently, screening includes detailed questioning, review of symptomatology and temperature checks. Anyone who does not meet medical screening criteria is denied entry into SRJ. In addition to this medical screening, and prior to entering the jail, all persons must wash and sanitize their hands at newly established hand washing stations and are required to wear masks and protective eyewear as appropriate inside the jail."

April 8, 3:40 p.m. In a press conference at the White House Wednesday, President Donald Trump doubled down on claims he made on Tuesday that "mail ballots are very dangerous for this country because of cheaters."

On Wednesday, he noted he's "all for" mail-in ballot for senior citizens and others unable to physically get to polls, but added, "you have to be very careful."

"You know the things with bundling and all the things that are happening, votes by mail where thousands of votes were gathered and I'm not going to say which party does it but thousands of votes are gathered and they're dumped in a location and all of a sudden you lose an election where you think you're going to win. I wont stand for it. Our voting system, first of all we should have voter ID, and if you send something in you should be sure, as a state and as a country, that that vote is meaningful and its not just made fraudulently. There’s a lot of fraudulent voting going on in this country."

April 8, 3:15 p.m. The Alameda County Public Health Department has released details about COVID-19 cases at Gateway Care and Rehab Center, and East Bay Post-Acute Center on Wednesday afternoon, noting that current cases should be considered a "point-in-time" count.

At the Post-Acute Center, 17 staff members and nine residents have tested positive for COVID-19. At Gateway, 24 staff members and 35 residents have tested positive; of those 35 residents, six have died.

"Our thoughts are with those individuals’ families, friends, and their fellow residents," Alameda County Public Information Manager Neetu Balram told SFGATE.

The county has established a task force to assist the centers, and is working with the respective staffers to provide them personal protective equipment (PPE) and additional staffing where needed.

"At this moment, we are tracking suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities throughout the county," Balram added. "We take these cases very seriously. The task force is a dedicated team of public-health staff led by a public-health nurse that works with a facility where a case of COVID-19 is confirmed to conduct a contact investigation and implement disease containment strategies. This task force also conducts outreach to facilities, and works to implement infection control and prevention procedures."

April 8, 2:40 p.m. Federal officials released some Grand Princess passengers from Travis Air Force Base before their 14-day quarantine periods ended, a report from the Bay Area News Group reveals. The CDC, however, isn't revealing exactly how many of the more than 1,000 individuals at the base were released or why.

These passengers were released on March 23 under the condition that they were to go straight home in a private vehicle or took a chartered flight or bus. It's unclear whether they had been tested, or had received any results of a coronavirus test; fewer than half who were aboard were tested; 103 tested positive.

April 8, 2 p.m. Multiple counties in Northern California have announced new cases of coronavirus Wednesday afternoon.

- Alameda County now has 640 cases and 16 deaths

- The city of Berkeley now has 34 cases

- Contra Costa County now has 462 cases and seven deaths

- Marin County now has 148 cases and 10 deaths

- Napa County now has 25 cases and two deaths

- Santa Clara County now has 1,380 cases and 46 deaths

- Sonoma County now has 120 cases and one death

April 8, 1:05 p.m. California is working on protocols for sterilizing and reusing N95 masks in the state's medical centers, Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci announced Wednesday.

Though the state has acquired 4.5 million N95 masks, California officials are still concerned about the potential for a dwindling supply of PPE. This new strategy to sterilize up to 80,000 masks a day could be one solution. Gov. Gavin Newsom explained the technology, which is expected to arrive next week, would mean those on the front lines could reuse masks "up to 20 times."

April 8, 1 p.m. On Wednesday, California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell addressed concerns that the death rate in the state has been underreported, due to suspected but unconfirmed coronavirus cases resulting in individuals dying in their homes.

"We look at every single case individually," she responded. "Cases like the ones you're describing, when we get them, we review them with our team, we reach out to coroners and follow up to get that information. As that becomes available we’ll be sharing more of that with you going forward."

In New York, ill individuals who died in their homes before being tested have not been counted in the official COVID-19 death toll.

April 8, 12:55 p.m. Newsom says 2.4 million Californians have filed for unemployment since mid-March.

In an effort to mitigate the economic blow, he said OnwardCA.org has been compiling open jobs on its website for those seeking work. There are currently more than 100,000 listings on the site, separated by geography.

April 8, 12:50 p.m. In a press conference Wednesday, Newsom announced new statistics around coronavirus cases in the state:

- 16,957 people have tested positive to date

- 2,714 have been hospitalized, which is a 3.9% increase over the previous day

- Of those, 1,154 are in the ICU, which is a 4.2% increase over the previous day

Sixty-eight people have died in the last 24 hours. "Sadly, it was one of our highest death rates in the state so far," Newsom said. A total of 442 have died since the outbreak began.

Newsom also spoke to reports that coronavirus complications disproportionately affect people of color. The California Office of Emergency Services has been gathering as much data as possible from state counties, though Newsom reports data has, to this point, only been collected from 37.2% of counties.

“Understandably people are eager for transparency in real time,” he said.

The OES analyzed 6,306 cases of coronavirus to better understand if the state is seeing more cases and deaths in people of color. At this time, he said, they have not, as data “tracks modestly along with the population [demographics].”

Of those 6,306 cases, 30% are Hispanic and Latino individuals, 6% are black and 14% are Asian. Regarding the death rates, 29% have been Hispanic and Latino, 3% have been black, and 16% have been Asian.

“It’s one thing to have that data; it’s another to do something with it, to make that data actionable,” Newsom continued. “That is absolutely essential. We are doing more to be culturally competent, our testing, our outreach, our communication, and our capacity to deliver care to individuals that do get tested to make sure that care is compensated so [it doesn’t] have to come out of pocket.”

April 8, 12:45 p.m. Laguna Hospital has 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday. Thirteen of the confirmed cases are staff and four are residents.

April 8, 11:45 a.m. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said at an 11 a.m. press conference San Francisco has 676 cases and 10 deaths. Breed said that while S.F.'s numbers are encouraging compared to other cities, such as New York where cases are surging, residents must continue to follow the shelter-in-place order with vigilance.

"Although we know the early data has been encouraging so far, I want to reiterate we are not out of the woods," Breed said. "We’re not at a place where we can get comfortable. San Francisco is receiving praise... We were one of the first cities to move forward with the stay-at-home order and while I’m proud of what we’ve done, we cannot let up. Physically distancing ourselves from other people, as hard as it has been, is still necessary. I know a lot of time has gone by and people are starting to feel anxious, frustrated and uncertain. I want to remind you this will pay off and this will pass."

Breed emphasized the need for people to stay home this weekend even though Sunday is Easter and the weather will be nice.

"I know how hard it will be for many to not go to church on Sunday," she said. "It is necessary. It is not necessary for your own personal health but for the health of those you love."

Breed announced the new Heal San Francisco program offering free mental health services for health care workers. Licensed clinicians are volunteering their time to offer free counseling.

She also said the city opened a new field care clinic today in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood offering everything from primary care to COVID-19 screening. It allows Bayview residents to access care without leaving their neighborhood.

"Our proactive approach allows us to continue providing health care to residents who need it while also preserving hospital beds for patients with coronavirus," Breed said. "People seeking care at their neighborhood health center will receive it without needing to leave their neighborhood, which keeps all of our residents and essential workers safer.”

The city will also be opening staffed public bathrooms with hand-washing stations that will be available 24/7 in 15 high-need areas of the city such as the Tenderloin, South of Market, Bayview-Hunters Point, Castro, and Mission neighborhoods. Five opened today and a total of 15 will be up and running by early next week.

San Francisco Public Health Chief Dr. Grant Colfax presented San Francisco's new online data tracker that breaks COVID-19 cases down by gender, age, and race/ethnicity.

"Since March 5, we’ve had dramatic increases in cases," Colfax said. "I expect these increases to continue as coronavirus spreads through the community. The more we test for the virus the more cases we'll find. We do not know yet when we will peak."

Colfax said the new data tracker reveals that the "clear majority" of cases are from community contact and not from travelers who have introduced the virus to the community: "This reinforces how important it is to stay home and prevent the spread. This is a vital tool. Please continue to socially distance."

The new online tool also tracks hospitalizations which Colfax noted have increased. On March 23, only 26 people were hospitalized in the county with COVID-19 complications and today 83 are in intensive or acute care.

"The number of cases in the hospital and the number in intensive care is the best indicator for how our health care system is going to be strained," Colfax said.

As of Wednesday, 5,994 individuals had been tested in the city and 13% tested positive.

April 8, 10:15 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke with KCBS Radio Wednesday morning and said the state is preparing for the spread of the coronavirus to peak in May. This is something the governor has said repeatedly in interviews and press conferences in recent days.

"What we have projected based on the new modeling and the stay at home orders and appropriate physical distancing that’s been manifest, is we’re seeing a steady moderate increase," Newsom said. "And again that, we project, goes into May before we see that moderate increase begin to decline. But those models, as you suggest, go from bending a curve to then stretching the curve out beyond May: June. So I just want to caution people that just because you bend a curve and you’re no longer at peak doesn’t mean the virus has evaporated and we’re back to some semblance of normalcy."

He added: "But the reality is, I think we have to be very honest with folks to socialize that we’re not just a few weeks away and everybody gets to go back and watch the Warriors down at Oracle Arena. The reality is, this is going to take us some time."

Read the transcript of the entire interview.

April 8, 8:40 a.m. San Francisco health officials reported the 10th death from COVID-19 complications Wednesday morning. This is the second death the county has announced this week.

Officials also reported 54 new cases, bringing the total to 676.

Counties across the Bay Area reported 13 deaths on Tuesday, making it the deadliest day of the coronavirus outbreak thus far in the region.

April 8, 8 a.m. Two nursing facilities in Alameda County announced coronavirus outbreaks Tuesday.

At least 40 cases have been identified among staff and residents at the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, according to the Mercury News. In addition, East Bay Post-Acute Center in Castro Valley said 12 health care workers and 9 patients have tested positive , according to CBS News.

The Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center, the East Bay Post-Acute Center and Alameda County Health Department weren't immediately available for comment on this story.

April 8, 7:25 a.m. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a mandate Tuesday night requiring residents to wear face coverings when leaving their homes to go to the supermarket, doctor's office or any other essential service allowed to remain open under California's shelter-in-place order.

The order takes effect Friday.

"Every Angeleno will share this responsibility with employers: to keep workers and everybody else safe, which is why we are requiring customers to wear face coverings to enter those businesses," Garcetti said Tuesday in issuing the facial covering mandate.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also made a big announcement regarding masks Tuesday night and told TV host Rachel Maddow he "inked a deal" for the state to buy 200 million masks a month.

Newsom explained the mask windfall is the result of a consortium of nonprofits and a California company that will be manufacturing mostly N95 masks overseas, and supplying the needs of California residents and workers, as well as possibly those in other Western states. Read the full story.

Cumulative cases in the greater Bay Area (due to limited testing these numbers reflect only a small portion of likely cases):

ALAMEDA COUNTY: 640 confirmed cases, 16 deaths*

For more information on Alameda County cases, visit the public health department website.

*Number excludes infected patients in city of Berkeley, which has its own health department and 34 cases.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: 462 confirmed cases, 7 deaths

For more information on Contra Costa County cases, visit the public health department website.

LAKE COUNTY: 2 confirmed cases

For information on Lake County and coronavirus, visit the public health department website.

MARIN COUNTY: 148 confirmed cases, 10 deaths

Fore more information on Marin County cases, visit the public health department website.

MONTEREY COUNTY: 69 confirmed cases, 3 deaths

For more information on Monterey County cases, visit the public health department website.

NAPA COUNTY: 25 cases, 2 deaths

For more information on Napa County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN BENITO COUNTY: 33 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

For more information on San Benito County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY: 676 confirmed cases, 10 deaths

For more information on San Francisco County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN MATEO COUNTY: 617 confirmed cases, 21 deaths

For more information on San Mateo County cases, visit the public health department website.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY: 1,380 confirmed cases, 46 deaths

Fore more information on Santa Clara County cases, visit the public health department website.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: 77 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on Santa Cruz County cases, visit the public health department website.

SOLANO COUNTY: 112 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

For more information on Solano County cases, visit the public health department website.

SONOMA COUNTY: 123 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on Sonoma County cases, visit the public health department website.

In California, 505 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.