Merced County COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations rise. Other areas show improvement
Two more coronavirus-related deaths were reported Wednesday by the Merced County Department of Public Health.
The new fatalities brought the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Merced County to 112. Fifteen Merced County residents have died due to COVID-19 in the last seven days.
One of the most recently deceased residents was female and one was male. One individual was between age 50-64 and the other was 65-years-old or older. Both had underlying health conditions prior to their deaths, according to County Public Health.
Also Wednesday, 54 new confirmed infections were reported, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 7,744.
Infections presumed to be active, meaning they were confirmed within the last two weeks, fell slightly on Wednesday to 1,523.
New daily COVID-19 cases generally have fallen over the last week.
Merced County’s testing positivity, which refers to the percentage of completed COVID-19 tests in the last week that return positive, fell to 11.5% on Wednesday. With the percentage declining in recent days, Merced County is inching closer to the state’s target maximum of 8%.
County Public Health’s list of active COVID-19 outbreaks is also ebbing. The list was scaled down on Wednesday from 23 to 21 current outbreaks.
Outbreaks are defined as three or more unrelated, laboratory-confirmed cases linked to a workplace within two weeks. Just one positive case constitutes an outbreak at a skilled nursing facility due to the high-risk environment. Outbreaks are closed when there are no new known COVID-19 cases at the facility for 14 days.
In contrast, active hospitalizations rose to the highest reported point since Aug. 17.
Merced County residents with COVID-19 cases severe enough to mandate hospital care climbed from 78 on Tuesday to 89 Wednesday. Of those, 28 individuals are being cared for at facilities within the county, while the others are looked after elsewhere.
According to the California Department of Public Health, 8.3% of intensive care unit beds in Merced County are currently available. The state’s target for counties is no lower than 20%. The county’s ventilator capacity stands below the 25% target at 20%.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:01 PM.
