Merced County Public Health reports lower COVID-19 numbers through weekend. Will it last?
The Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed four additional COVID-19 related deaths Monday.
However, the county’s running coronavirus fatality tally stayed at 50 due to four of the deaths reported on Friday being re-classified as non-coronavirus deaths.
One of the most recently deceased was between age 35-49, which is younger than the majority of local COVID-19 deaths. Two of the deceased residents were male and two were female. Two had underlying health conditions prior to their deaths, and two did not.
New daily COVID-19 cases dropped off through the weekend and into Monday, according to the latest data from the Merced County Department of Public Health.
Additional laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections tallied 48 Saturday, 60 Sunday and 29 Monday. New known infections have not been lower than Monday’s count since June 27, when just 12 cases were reported by County Public Health.
The number of residents assumed to be actively sick, meaning their cases were confirmed within the last two weeks, fell from 1,882 Friday to 1,728 Monday. This marked the first time in recent days that active cases decreased.
Active outbreaks also fell from 23 to 22, with Los Banos School District’s outbreak now closed. County Public Health remove an outbreak from the list when a location has had no additional confirmed cases for two weeks.
The county’s positive case percentage, meaning the percentage of all residents screened for COVID-19 over the last week who test positive, fell slightly to 21.4%.
But statewide, it is 6.1%, the state reported Monday. The California Department of Public Health has defined the target maximum for counties at 8%, meaning Merced County is still significantly higher than ideal.
Merced County’s newest coronavirus data appears to mirror that of the state, which reported Monday morning 5,739 new cases —the lowest one-day increase and only day with fewer than 6,000 new cases since July 5.
The most recent seven days tallied about 54,000 total new infections across California, down from about 69,000 the prior week.
Monday’s lower COVID-19 numbers come on the heels of last week’s record high count of new infections and deaths in Merced County.
While Monday’s tallies offer some respite, it is too soon to tell whether the relief is a blip or a trend. County Public Health officials have noted persistent data lags for coronavirus deaths and case counts.
Plus, not all of Merced County’s data Monday showed signs of possible alleviation.
The number of Merced County residents with COVID-19 infections severe enough to mandate hospitalization rose to 84 — the highest reported count yet. Of those, 56 individuals are hospitalized in facilities within the county.
Gov. Gavin Newsom noted in his Monday address that the Central Valley remains the state’s most concerning region in terms of elevated COVID-19 metrics. While hospitalizations decreased across California in the last 14 days, Newsom said the statewide numbers aren’t indicative of what’s happening in the Valley.
The governor announced last week that extra funding and strike teams are being sent to eight counties, including Merced, to help out with overwhelming COVID-19 numbers that strain local hospitals and resources.
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 5:38 PM.
