Merced County flagged by state for concerning COVID-19 numbers, as cases soar nationally
Merced County on Monday was added to the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) list of counties being monitored due to increased coronavirus numbers and severity.
Metrics of concern for the state include elevated disease transmission, increasing hospitalizations and limited hospital capacity. Merced County has seen increases in all three categories.
Counties are flagged for increased disease transmission when more than 100 residents per 100,000 test positive for COVID-19 during a 14 day period. Merced County recently hit 114.8 residents per 100,000 population. The testing positivity rate also rose to 9.8% during a seven day average, breaching the state’s 8% threshold.
Plus, Merced County dropped below the state’s minimum 20% ICU bed capacity to 16.7%.
The news for Merced County comes a day after Governor Gavin Newsom ordered bars closed in seven counties, including Fresno, Tulare and Kings in the central San Joaquin Valley, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Driving the troubling local data in Merced County is increased community transmission, increased exposures at work places, including multiple small outbreaks and household clusters particularly in the Latino and Hispanic community, according to the state.
As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations grow alarmingly throughout the state and nation, Merced joins 18 additional counties on CDPH’s watch list. Nearby counties alongside Merced include Fresno, Stanislaus and Tulare.
Each is in “targeted engagement” with state officials to review preventative COVID-19 strategies and identify next steps aimed at curbing the pandemic.
Actions outlined for Merced County include further marketing of coronavirus testing among key populations, increasing public messaging and education on the importance precautionary measures like wearing mask and educational outreach to businesses to convey importance of safety measures to prevent future shutdown.
If these measures fail to curtail COVID-19 locally, state officials say the county should consider another round of business limitations or more general stay-at-home precautions. But if the county makes little or no progress, the state may step in.
While Merced County hospitalizations have not yet climbed above the three day increase of 10% watched by CDPH, total residents hospitalized due to COVID-19 are escalating. During the seven days between June 17 to 24, 20 hospitalizations were added to the tally compared to eight the week before.
Ventilator capacity also remained stable according to state numbers, but county health officials have recently said that such resources locally are wearing thin.
The state updates its list of counties having not met minimum thresholds daily. Metrics for testing volume and testing positivity use data with a one week lag.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 1:26 PM.
