Coronavirus: Alameda County COVID-19 death toll nears 1989 earthquake’s

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Alameda County has reached 41 — one less than the casualty total from the collapse of the Cypress Freeway in Oakland during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

New information released Saturday by the Alameda County Public Health Department showed 1,114 total cases in its county, giving it the second-highest death toll and number of cases of any Bay Area county except for Santa Clara County, the region’s most populous.

The death toll from the pandemic has slowed across the Bay Area and California, however. On Saturday, at an event in Campbell, Gov. Gavin Newsom noted that California as a whole added 87 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to state figures, down from 95 the day before.

“We’ve certainly flattened the curve,” Newsom said. “The question is when are we going to see those numbers start to decline on a consistent basis, as opposed to an episodic basis as we have seen over the last week or so.”

During the Oct. 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the majority of the 63 people killed in Northern California died in Alameda County. Of those, 42 perished when the Cypress Viaduct, a two-deck, four-lane section of Interstate 880, collapsed. In the next few days, when another person dies in Alameda county from COVID-19, that disaster will equal the historic earthquake’s most visible landmark for loss of life.

Among the most recent Alameda County data, Oakland has the most cases, with 280, followed by Hayward at 217, San Leandro with 64, Union City with 53 and Berkeley with 42.