The county is reporting that an increasing percentage of patients in Alameda County hospitals are COVID-19 patients. From a county e-newsletter:

As of July 28:

• 9.1% of hospital patients in Alameda County were confirmed COVID-19 positive, higher than 6.3% last week, and 3.3% a month ago but still within our goal of 50% or less. 
• 19% of the patients in ICU beds were confirmed COVID-19 positive, up from 12% last week. 
• 36% of the 2,343 total inpatient hospital beds and 35% of the 330 ICU beds were available, and 100% of the 1,221 surge beds were available

Oakland remains a hotspot for the county’s coronavirus cases, at 4,458 in the city out of 11,131 in the county, or 40 percent of the cases.

The number of hospitalizations are also generally trending upwards since the beginning of July. While it’s gone up and down, on July 1, there were 123 hospitalization in the county; as of July 28, there were 213 hospitalizations.

Oakland Zoo Re-Opens

The Oakland Zoo re-opened on Wednesday. According to the NBC Bay Area article, “Only 2,500 visitors will be allowed each day, and people will not be allowed to touch some displays.”

Parrott said the health department allowed the zoo to reopen by classifying it as an outdoor park, according to the article. Oakland Zoo president Joel Parrott said that the health department reclassified the zoo as an outdoor park, allowing it to re-open. “We can spread people out on our pathways,” Parrott is quoted in the article. “It will be just like hiking in our state parks.”