The COVID-19 pandemic touched and impacted everyoneâs life in some way, shape or form in 2020.
It began in mid-March, when the first case hit Kern County and Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order less than a week later.
And it continues today, with coronavirus raging across the county, sectors of the local economy hindered or shuttered all together, and education and religious services having a drastically altered appearance at the close of 2020.
Hereâs how the pandemic shaped the community over the past year:
SURGING CASES
There have been about 1,000 new COVID-19 infections reported each day for the past three weeks. There are more active infections than at any point previously this year and hospitals are stretched to the limits in their ability to care for the sick. Critical care beds are running out.
Reader: My husband and I are not very happy with your editorial page. Most of your columns are left-wing writers. How come we never see Dan Walters column from The Sacramento Bee?
Some columns are more balanced like the recent column by Christopher Meyers, faculty emeritus from Cal State Bakersfield. When I see a column from The Washington Post, I donât even read them. So many times I am ready to cancel our subscription, especially the slanted coverage against President Trump.
â Jeanne Cain
Peterson:Â Please don t cancel your subscription, Jeanne. There s so much in the newspaper that hopefully if you don t like one column, there is something else for you, like the recent column you mentioned from Christopher Meyers.
Administrators from Dignity Health provided an update on efforts to vaccinate its staff against the COVID-19 virus, roll out the vaccine to the community and what its surge plans look
The situation in local hospitals continues to intensify as a spike in COVID-19 admissions in recent days has pushed some facilities past their worst points this summer, hospital administrators said Wednesday.
At the two Mercy hospitals in Bakersfield, space for critical care patients has run out. There were 32 ICU patients in the downtown and southwest hospitals at one point Wednesday morning but only 28 beds, according to Bruce Peters, CEO of the two hospitals. Almost half the ICU patients were on ventilators, he said.
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital is now averaging 70 patients a day in its ICU, up from 48 patients a day last week, said its CEO Ken Keller.
Kern County Hospitals mandated to offer COVID-19 testing weekly to employees
Local hospitals could begin offering weekly tests to all employees, following a mandate from The California Department of Public Health. This comes as COVID-19 cases continue to rise and hospitals are being inundated with more patients afflicted by the coronavirus.
and last updated 2020-12-17 10:36:22-05
Dignity Health Bakersfield CEO Ken Keller said the California Department of public health let hospitals know the day before Thanksgiving that they had until this last Monday to create a plan to be able to test employees on a weekly basis. Hospital officials say the rollout could start as early as this week.