Eleven new Merced County COVID-19 deaths reported. Outbreak hits Atwater Walmart
Merced County on Friday reported 11 fatalities due to COVID-19 — the county’s highest numbers of deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.
The latest fatalities bring the number of COVID-19 deaths in Merced County to 50, according to the Department of Public Health.
The sharp increase in deaths is due to a data lag from an out-of-county hospital where COVID-19-related deaths of Merced County residents occurred, a County Public Health news release said.
It is unknown whether any of the 11 deceased residents had underlying health conditions. Five of the fatalities were female and six were male, according to County Public Health. Five were age 50-64 and six were 65 or older.
COVID-19-related deaths have been reported nearly every day this week in Merced County. Since last Friday, the death toll has risen by 23.
News of the record high local deaths came as the first known COVID-19 fatality of a youth patient in California was reported at Valley Children’s Hospital in neighboring Madera County.
Officials said Friday that the death occurred earlier this week.
Also, a COVID-19 outbreak was confirmed at the Walmart Supercenter in Atwater, according to County Public Health. Active Merced County workplace outbreaks now come to 23.
It is unclear how many infections are tied to the Walmart Supercenter. Outbreaks are defined as three or more unrelated, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to a workplace location within a two-week period.
New cases in Merced County
Also Friday, 220 new laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections raised the county’s tally since the pandemic began to 4,285. Residents assumed to be actively ill, meaning their positive test result was confirmed with the last two weeks, rose to 1,882.
Residents sick enough to be currently hospitalized in facilities both within and outside of the county held steady at 80.
Merced County’s testing positivity percentage over the last week rose Friday to 21.8% from 19.3% Thursday.
Testing positivity shows the percentage of individuals screened for the novel coronavirus whose tests return positive. Statewide, California’s testing positivity is about 7%.
County Public Health officials have pointed to the locally heightened positivity percentage as a sign of surging COVID-19 transmission that cannot be entirely explained by increased access to testing.
The City of Merced continues to stand as the community most affected by the novel coronavirus. As of Friday, 1,471 known cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic.
As cases rise locally, the Merced City Council on Monday will return to meeting remotely.
Atwater is the next most impacted community in Merced County with 685 known cases. Livingston comes in third with 473 laboratory confirmed infections. All other local communities have less than 450 reported cases each.
The Central Valley was recently noted by the state as a concerning hot spot for spiking COVID-19 transmission.
The governor announced Monday that “strike teams” will be sent to eight Valley counties, including Merced, where exploding cases have strained local resources. About $52 million will help staff hospitals, speed up testing lags and aid quarantine efforts.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 5:46 PM.
