Merced County COVID-19 cases pass 3,000. New fatality brings week’s deaths to 12
The Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday that another area resident lost their life due to COVID-19, bringing the number of fatalities reported this week to 12.
In total, 27 Merced County residents have died after contracting the novel coronavirus since the pandemic began.
The most recently deceased individual was a male between the age of 50-64 with underlying health conditions, according to County Public Health.
Active hospitalizations of Merced County residents decreased to 67 on Thursday after reaching 74 the prior day, which was the largest local count yet. Of those hospitalized residents, 48 are being cared for inside Merced County, while the rest are in facilities elsewhere.
The county’s overall caseload Thursday breached 3,000 infections with the addition of 129 new confirmed cases. Total positive coronavirus cases now tally 3,123 and infections assumed active number 1,330.
The active count is an estimate due to County Public Health officials no longer having the capacity to manage each case, ever since infections began to exponentially increase. The ballooning number of new cases is reflected in the county’s positive test rate over the last week.
The rate, which represents the percentage of all tests completed that come back positive, rose Thursday to 17.3%. This is more than double the California Department of Public Health’s target positivity maximum of 8% for counties.
To date, 22,270 total coronavirus tests have been completed in Merced County.
After topping New York as the state with the most known cases of COVID-19 earlier this week, more than 425,600 Californians have tested positive for the virus, according to state public health data released Thursday morning. At least 409,000 New York residents have contracted COVID-19.
Around the Valley
Tulare County added 273 cases Thursday for a total of 7,876 cases of the virus. The county had no new deaths and stands at 168 total.
Fresno County reported 344 new cases of the coronavirus and no new deaths on Thursday, according to numbers from the state Department of Health, bringing the county’s total to 11,756 positive cases and 104 deaths.
Madera County added two new fatal cases to increase the total tally to 18. Another 69 new cases brings the county total to 1,599 cases.
Mariposa County reported no changes to its totals of 41 cases and one death.
Stanislaus County added 417 new cases and two more deaths Thursday, bringing the totals to 7,401 and 79, respectively.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 5:26 PM.
