Coronavirus: Los Banos surpasses 1,000 total cases. Hospitalizations decrease countywide
The Merced County Department of Public Health on Thursday confirmed an additional death of a resident due to the novel coronavirus.
Fatalities of Merced County residents after contracting COVID-19 now stand at 126 since the pandemic’s start.
The deceased resident was a male between 35-49-years-old with underlying health conditions, according to County Public Health.
Thursday also added 47 new laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases to the county’s running tally. The new infections brought the total caseload to 8,487.
Fifteen of the county’s newly infected residents are traced to Los Banos. The city reached 1,007 total cases on Thursday, joining Merced and Atwater as affected communities with infection counts above 1,000 since the beginning of the pandemic was reported in March.
Coronavirus cases presumed active continued a recent declining streak and fell to 743 countywide
Active cases, however, are an estimate based off of the number of known positive COVID-19 cases within the last two weeks.
Merced County’s case positivity percentage stayed below the critical 8% threshold on Thursday and decreased to 7.1%. The data point indicates the percentage of residents screened for the novel coronavirus during the last week whose results return positive.
In order to progress through the most recent plan to reopen California’s economy, counties like Merced that are subject to the most limited opening rules must remain below 8% positivity for 14 straight days.
While Merced County is several days into meeting the positivity requirement, its positive case rate per 100,000 residents still exceeds the required benchmark for state-approved reopening.
The most recent state data shows the county as having 14.2 positive cases per 100,000 residents. For more nonessential businesses to reopen, the county needs to cut its positive cases by more than half to less than seven.
The number of county residents ever hospitalized on account of COVID-19 increased Thursday by 10 patients to 633.
However, current hospitalizations among residents with severe COVID-19 cases fell on Thursday to the lowest patient count in recent weeks. Hospitalized residents decreased by 10 to 67, with just 14 patients being cared for at facilities in the county. Other patients are being cared for in other counties.
Active COVID-19 outbreaks in Merced County decreased by one on Thursday to 18. The City of Merced Public Works Department was removed from the list, meaning no new cases have been traced to the workplace facility for two weeks.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 5:15 PM.
