The Manteca Christmas parade set for Saturday at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley has been cancelled due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The cancellation of the 48-year Manteca Chamber of Commerce tradition comes on the heels of the available ICU bed capacity in the San Joaquin Valley sinking to the lowest level in California at 6.1 percent.

That compares with 10.9 percent for Southern California, 20.3 percent for the Greater Sacramento area, 25.7 percent for the Bay Area, and 28.2 percent for Northern California.

Those regions that slip below 15 percent ICU bed capacity within 48 hours go to the most severe lockdown level that the San Joaquin Valley region is now at. It caps retail store capacity at 20 percent, bans outdoor dining but allows takeout and delivery, closes hair salons and barbershops.

The more restrictive level under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency health orders stays in place at least three week. It is not lifted until projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15 percent.

The odds are strong the San Joaquin Valley region that includes San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Merced, San Benito, Mariposa, Kern, Tulare, Kings, and Fresno counties will remain in the current lockdown through at least the end of the year.

In the past seven days hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in San Joaquin County have shot up 37 percent. The 213 COVID patients account for 26 percent of the patient load in the seven hospitals within the county that now have 82 percent of all beds occupied.

There are 115 ICU beds in use with 44 percent of 51 being occupied by COVID patients.

There are 32 beds of the 73 available beds at Doctors Hospital of Manteca occupied as of Monday with 12 of them being COVID patients. Three of the seven Doctors Hospital ICU patients are being treated for COVID. Kaiser Hospital Manteca has 36 beds in use with 13 of them serving COVID patients. Five of the six ICU patients at Kaiser have COVID.

There were 32 new COVID cases in San Joaquin County on Monday. The number of active cases was at 1,897 — down from 2,001 on Friday. Not all positive cases of COVID result in people getting sick.

Since the pandemic started in March, 27,844 of the county’s 766,000 residents have tested positive while 25,417 have recovered.

There have been 520 deaths as of Monday. That’s up from 522 in Friday.

Chamber refunding

parade entry fees

Manteca Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joann Beattie said the $50 parade entry fees will be refunded. They are expected to go out by the end of the week.

The chamber’s Christmas fair over the weekend was a success with more than 2,000 people attending the two-day event at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com