Merced County in danger of reverting back to purple tier, as COVID-19 tests decline
Despite a noticeable decrease in deaths from COVID-19, Merced County is in danger of moving back to the more restrictive purple tier on the state’s reopening plan, local officials said Wednesday.
“Within the last week, Merced County has experienced a higher case rate of COVID-19, and the number of people testing continues to decline,” Department of Public Health officials said in a news release.
Merced County moved from the most restrictive purple tier to the red tier on Oct. 6, which allowed many non-essential businesses to open, like massage and tattoo parlors. It allowed restaurants to offer dine-in service at a limited capacity of 25 percent.
Plus, schools can offer in-person classes for counties that can establish themselves in the red tier for 14 days.
Reverting back to the purple tier would force many businesses that just reopened to close again. Schools that haven’t opened up to students wouldn’t be able to do so.
“To help the County remain in the red tier, residents need to get tested for COVID-19,” County Public Health states in the release. “Increasing our COVID-19 testing rates is the main way to assist with lowering the overall case rate, thereby preventing the county from reverting back to the purple tier.”
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Health recommend ongoing surveillance testing, which is defined as being screened once every 14-day period to ensure that you are not ill, according to the County Department of Public Health.
“It would be disappointing for our county to move backwards, when so much progress has been made to move forward into recovery,” said Dr. Salvador Sandoval, Merced County’s public health officer. “Everyone must do their part to help, get tested, and continue to follow safety measures.”
The county Department of Public Health also warned that state funding for the two COVID-19 testing sites in Merced County at the Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced and the Los Banos Fairgrounds Currently could be in danger, “if their usage continues to decline at the current pace.”
COVID-19 testing is available to all Merced County residents at both sites for free.
The county’s positive test percentage in the past seven days remained at 4% on Wednesday. The number of infections presumed to be active rose from 296 on Tuesday to 304 on Wednesday. Active cases are an estimate based on the number of new coronavirus cases within the last two weeks.
The number of residents actively hospitalized dropped from 23 on Tuesday to 20 on Wednesday. There have been 696 residents who have been hospitalized due to COVID-19.
High School District Offering Testing
The Merced Union High School District’s latest survey of parents revealed that approximately 60% of students want the opportunity to come back to school for in-person classes.
That won’t happen if Merced reverts back to the purple tier.
To help Merced County get its testing numbers up the district is offering COVID-19 testing to staff and students this week at Merced, Golden Valley, Atwater and Buhach Colony high schools.
According to Superintendent Alan Peterson, over 50 staff members were tested at Merced High on Wednesday afternoon.
“As we are now all aware, our County is struggling with ongoing surveillance testing,” Peterson said. “MUHSD will do its part to make this as convenient as possible, working with our local medical community and MCPH. It is important for our employees to test even when they feel well.“
There will be COVID-19 testing available at Atwater High from 7-8:30 a.m. on Thursday. El Capitan will offer testing from noon until 1:30 p.m.
There will be testing available to the community on Thursday at Merced High. The testing will start at 6 p.m. and will finish when the last person is tested.
People interested in being tested are asked to bring a copy of their insurance card and then fill out a brief form.
Testing for staff and students will continue on Friday at Buhach Colony from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and Golden Valley from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Latest Merced County numbers
The Merced County Department of Public Health reported one new death and 29 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
The death brings the county’s local COVID-19 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic to 154. After going nearly a week without a reported COVID-19 death, Merced County has reported two deaths in the last two days.
The individual who died was a woman over 65 years old with underlying health conditions, according to County Public Health..
The 29 new cases bring the county’s total number of residents infected by the virus to 9,386 reported in Merced County since the first case was confirmed in March.
Elsewhere in the Valley
Stanislaus County: 6 deaths in last seven days, 394 total deaths since beginning of pandemic, 17,403 infections to date, 1,256 hospitalizations, 16,771 recovered.
Fresno County: 68 new cases Wednesday, 30,220 to date; no additional deaths, 430 to date. The Fresno County Department of Public Health only updates its count of fatalities on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Kings County: Nine new cases, 8,164 to date; no additional deaths, 83 to date. Kings County includes more than 3,630 infections among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: Eight new cases, 4,928 to date; no additional deaths, 73 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 78 to date; no additional deaths, two to date.
Tulare County: 438 new cases, 17,365 to date; three additional deaths, 282 to date.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 6:41 PM.
