COVID-19 updates: Shasta County woman is 21st death this week; virus rate still high

Jessica Skropanic, Redding Record Searchlight
·7 min read

With the holidays here, Shasta County Public Health has once again warned that gatherings may cause a spike in cases, as they did in 2020.

The agency recommends people take precautions to protect themselves and their families and friends during the holidays: Try to keep gatherings brief, with fewer people and — when possible — gather outdoors. That is especially important if holiday plans involve unvaccinated guests, officials said.

Here are the daily COVID-19 with updates on new case numbers, hospitalization figures, vaccination percentages and deaths announced.

Scroll down for updates this week, Nov. 29-Dec. 5 2021. For updated case numbers and data, scroll below daily updates.

A woman in her 50s is the latest person public health confirmed died of COVID-19.

Since March 2020, COVID-19 killed 461 people, Shasta County Public Health reported Friday.

Of those cases, 21 were announced since Monday. They were 12 women and nine men.

  • That's up from seven fatalities reported last week, although county public health was closed over the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 25-28.

This week's losses are within the same range as other weekly death reports in November:

  • 20 deaths reported Nov. 1-7

  • 22 deaths reported Nov. 8-14

  • 27 deaths reported Nov. 15-19

The good news is COVID-19 case numbers are dropping after the spike in outbreak that began in August. Here are the total number of cases for each month this autumn:

  • September: 4,078 cases

  • October: 2,313 cases

  • November: 1,540 cases

While the fall surge in outbreak slowed, Shasta County still has a high transmission rate of the disease, public health said.

  • Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 4, the number of identified cases of the virus per 100,000 residents was 144.4.

  • That's down from 218.2 per 100,000 people during Nov. 22-28.

While the case rate is dropping, any number above 100 indicates serious outbreak, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC recommends people living in or visiting an area with a high case rate wear a mask in public indoor settings, even if they're fully vaccinated.

"This is especially important during the holiday season as we spend more time indoors with people outside of our normal 'bubble,'" public health said.

Thursday: 2 women die; almost 49% vaccinated in Shasta County

Two women in their 80s are the latest to die from COVID-19, Shasta County Public Health reported Thursday.

Their deaths pushed the total number of county residents know to have died of COVID to 460 people. Public Health reported 20 of those fatalities since Monday.

The agency also released new vaccination information this week.

Among Shasta County residents ages 5 and older — meaning old enough to be vaccinated against COVID-19:

  • 81,340 are fully vaccinated, meaning they either had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or both shots of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer series. That's almost 49%.

  • More than 85,000 are unvaccinated or received one of a two-dose vaccine series. That's slightly above 51%.

Of the 449 people who were hospitalized between Aug. 30 and Tuesday:

  • 55 were vaccinated — about 12%

  • 16 were partially vaccinated — about 3%

  • 378 were unvaccinated — more than 84%

Of the 182 people who died during the same three-month period:

  • 19 were vaccinated — almost 10.5%

  • Four were partially vaccinated — slightly more than 2%

  • 159 were unvaccinated — more than 87%

For more information, to get vaccinated or tested, or to schedule a booster shot or third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, go to Shasta County's COVID-19 website at bit.ly/3GLFoFo or call 833-422-4255 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.

Wednesday: Another 7 die; list of deaths by age since 2020

Another three women and four men from Shasta County died of COVID-19, Public Health reported Wednesday.

They were:

  • Two men in their 50s

  • Two women and one man in their 60s

  • One woman and one man in their 80s.

Including the seven new fatalities, COVID killed 458 people since March 2020, according to Shasta County Public Health data.

While fewer men caught the disease — less than 46%, men make up the majority of people who died from it — more than 58%.

People ages 18 to 39 account for more cases than any age group: Just under 40% of confirmed cases. However they make up less than 2% of those who died from COVID.

Here is how the 458 fatalities break down by age:

  • Ages 0-19: None

  • Ages 20-29: None

  • Ages 30-39: Six

  • Ages 40-49: 21

  • Ages 50-59: 51

  • Ages 60-69: 68

  • Ages 70-79: 131

  • Ages 80 to 89: 117

  • Ages 90 and older: 64

Public Health counts COVID deaths by county of residence, so not everyone who died may have done so within Shasta County borders. Likewise people who died here but were residents of other counties or states would be counted by their local public health branch.

Tuesday: 7 more die; here's who we lost in November

Seven more Shasta County residents died of COVID-19.

Their deaths pushed the total number of county residents lost to COVID to 451, Public Health announced Tuesday.

The seven who died were:

  • A woman in her 50s

  • A woman in her 60s

  • Two men and a woman in their 70s

  • A woman in her 80s

  • A woman age 90 or older

This Covid quilt was created by Natalie Caldwell and won a first-place ribbon in the recent Sun Country Quilters show in Red Bluff. She said she designed a quilt "that looked like the Covid virus seen on so many news broadcasts." Caldwell said "it was meant to be used to nurse you back, so to speak."
This Covid quilt was created by Natalie Caldwell and won a first-place ribbon in the recent Sun Country Quilters show in Red Bluff. She said she designed a quilt "that looked like the Covid virus seen on so many news broadcasts." Caldwell said "it was meant to be used to nurse you back, so to speak."

In November, Shasta County Public Health investigated and confirmed 87 county residents died from COVID: 38 women and 49 men. Their ages break down as such:

  • People in their 40s: 7

  • People in their 50s: 12

  • People in their 60s: 20

  • People in their 70s: 19

  • People in their 80s: 19

  • People in their 90s or older: 10

"COVID-19 claims the lives of 53 Californians each day," the California Department of Public Health announced Tuesday.

Cases, hospitalizations and deaths are still mostly occurring among unvaccinated people, county and state Public Health branches said. Unvaccinated Californians are more than seven times more likely to get COVID-19 than a vaccinated person, if exposed, according to the They're also more than 13 times as likely to be hospitalized with the disease, and almost 16 times more likely to die from it than an unvaccinated person.

Monday: 4 more die while case rate drops more than 40%

Four more people in Shasta County have died of COVID-19, Public Health announced Monday.

They were:

  • Two men in their 40s

  • A man in his 60s

  • A woman in her 70s.

Including the most recent deaths, Shasta County has lost 444 residents to COVID-19 since March 2020.

But Public Health also reported some good news.

Case numbers and hospitalizations over the past week — from Nov. 22 to Sunday — were lower than the previous week, Nov. 15 to Nov. 21.

  • The average case rate — the number of cases per 100,000 county residents — was 124.4. That's about 43% lower than what it was the previous week: 218.2 cases per 100,000 people.
    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control considers 101 or more cases per 100,000 residents a serious outbreak.

  • The number of confirmed COVID cases during past week was 224 — down from 393 cases the previous week.

  • The test positivity rate — the percentage of COVID tests that came back positive — was 2.5%. That's down almost 1% from what it was the week before: 3.4%.

  • The average number of patients hospitalized for COVID last week was just above 58 — down from just over 61 the week prior.

More: New coronavirus strain has yet to reach Shasta County; vaccination clinic closes in Redding

COVID-19 numbers in Shasta County

Here are daily case, hospitalization and other numbers reported Friday by Shasta County Public Health. Total case numbers were adjusted Wednesday to account for any duplications in the count.

  • New cases: 73

  • Total cases: 22,522 — 10,304 men, 12,092 women, 126 gender unidentified

  • New deaths reported: 1

  • Total deaths: 461

  • Hospitalized: 35 — 7 in intensive care units

  • Active cases: 217, up from 159 on Thursday

New cases by age group:

  • Ages 0-12: 8

  • Ages 13-19: 7

  • Ages 20-29: 9

  • Ages 30-39: 15

  • Ages 40-49: 11

  • Ages 50-59: 8

  • Ages 60-69: 5

  • Ages 70-79: 5

  • Ages 80-89: 2

  • Age 90 and older: 0

  • Age not reported: 3

Cases by age group covid
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COVID cases/deaths by gender
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COVID hospitalizations
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Deaths by age group covid
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Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and entertainment stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County woman is 21st COVID death this week