Over half of Merced County’s total coronavirus caseload confirmed during last two weeks
For the second day in a row, Merced County Friday added 91 new known coronavirus infections to its running total, marking 1,884 COVID-19 cases reported by the Department of Public Health since the pandemic began to spread locally.
Merced County is now one week into state-mandated closures for bars and indoor operations for other businesses, like restaurants. That gives the county two weeks to control the pandemic locally before more reopenings are rolled back by the state.
On a related note, a mandate by the California Department of Public Health on Friday limited youth sports in Merced County.
Effective immediately, youth sports and activities outside of sectors like day camps or fitness centers must close, according to a County Public Health news release. The local health order was revised to reflect the change.
“The Department continues to engage with state officials daily in order to establish and implement steps to mitigate transmission,” said County Public Health Officer Dr. Salvador Sandoval in the release.
“However, we cannot do this alone. It is very important that every resident understands and takes steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Over half of all Merced County cases were confirmed in the last 14 days and are presumed active. On Thursday, active cases hit quadruple digits and continued to climb Friday to 1,060.
Because of the rapid case increase, County Public Health suspended active case management. The department can no longer clear individual infections or accurately track recoveries, meaning the active case counts is an estimate.
The infection influx has also impacted County Public Health official’s ability to speedily track the source of disease transmission.
Officials recently told the Sun-Star that County Public Health is behind on case investigation by about 300 cases and data entry by about two weeks. Cases of infection under investigation for exposure type rose to 864 Friday from 821 previously.
Exposure categories for infections in Merced County include those acquired outside of the county, healthcare exposure, known exposure (meaning the infection can be traced back to another individual in the county), community spread (meaning the infection was acquired in the county but from an unknown source) and exposures still under investigation.
County Public Health officials have repeatedly pleaded with residents to do their part in curbing the virus, as it has spiraled out of the department’s control. That includes asking residents to practice social distancing from non-household members and wearing a face mask in public.
If not, unnecessary deaths and economic consequences could soon be down the road, officials say.
“The state will not hesitate to intervene by returning to shelter in place orders if our community continues on this path,” Sandoval said in the release. “We must continue to stay safe to stay open in Merced County and to avoid any further closures of local businesses.”
Indicative of the virus’s amplifying spread, due to increased exposure and not just increased testing, is the rising positive case rate. The rate shows the percentage of individuals screened for coronavirus who test positive for the disease. It rose to 10.32% Friday up from 10.09% the prior day.
Active hospitalizations again went up Friday, too. Now at 36, the increasing number of local COVID-19 infections severe enough to mandate hospitalization is putting further strain on local hospital capacity managing those cases.
Area infections are most notably climbing in the cities of Merced and Atwater. With 720 positive tests to date, over half of all known cases have been among Merced residents. Atwater claims the next most with 259 cases.
Deaths due to COVID-19 related complications held at 12 Friday. The most recent fatality, a woman over the age of 65 with underlying health conditions, was reported Wednesday.
No updated information was available Friday evening concerning the nine active Merced County coronavirus outbreaks.
Foster Farm’s Livingston complex is the most recent outbreak reported, with 13 individuals having tested positive for COVID-19 in connection to the location so far.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 6:22 PM.
