Six new COVID-19 deaths in Merced County. Atwater prison, nursing facility among outbreaks
Merced County’s coronavirus death toll increased by six fatalities Wednesday, the Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed.
One of the most recently deceased individuals was between age 35-49, which is on the younger side as far as local coronavirus deaths. The other five fatalities were among residents older than 64.
Four of the deaths were male Merced County residents and two were female. Five had underlying health conditions. The health status of the sixth individual is unknown, according to County Public Health.
Residents whose lives have been claimed by COVID-19 now total 35 in Merced County.
Six additional active COVID-19 outbreaks were also disclosed by County Public Health Wednesday. There are now 22 reported active outbreaks.
The new outbreak locations include Atwater Federal Prison, the Merced County Department of Public Health, North Lake Assisted Living, Merced Nursing and Rehab, Davidson’s Residential Homes and McLane Pacific (a grocery and foodservice supply chain in Merced).
The number of cases tied to each location was not disclosed by County Public Health.
At most locations, outbreaks are defined as three or more unrelated laboratory-confirmed cases linked to a workplace facility within a 14 day period. Just one positive case constitutes an outbreak at a skilled nursing facility on account of the high risk setting.
Outbreaks are closed and removed from the list when no new confirmed cases at the facility are reported for 14 days.
More on coronavirus locally
The 143 additional COVID-19 infections reported Wednesday brought the county’s caseload since the pandemic began to 3,906. Estimated active infections, meaning they were laboratory confirmed within the last two weeks, rose to 1,646.
Merced County residents currently hospitalized due to severe COVID-19 illness also rose to 79. Of those, 49 are being cared for within the county and 30 are at outside facilities.
The trend of Merced County’s positive case rate steadily increasing continued Wednesday, as the average over the past week reached 20.4%. The rate measures the percentage of individuals screened for COVID-19 over a week-long period who test positive for the virus.
The county’s rate is approaching three times the state’s overall average of about 7.5% and is well above the California Department of Public Health’s ideal maximum of 8% for counties.
As the quantity of new COVID-19 infections grow, so does the backlog of cases under investigation. As of Wednesday, 2,013 local cases are still be investigated to track the transmission source.
Transmission categories include infections contracted from a known source in the county, cases acquired in the community but from an unknown source, exposure of a resident outside of the county and infections transmitted in a healthcare setting.
Livingston surpassed Los Banos on Tuesday as the community third most affected by coronavirus. Livingston now has 418 confirmed COVID-19 cases compared to Los Banos’s 407. Atwater claims the second most cases at 617.
The City of Merced has the most known infected residents by far at 1,357 cases.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
