Three weekend COVID-19 deaths reported in Merced County. Outbreaks continue to decrease
Since Friday, three additional Merced County residents have died after contracting the novel coronavirus, the Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed on Monday.
The new fatalities brought the region’s total number of deaths since the pandemic’s start to 137.
Two of the most recently deceased individuals were male and one was female, according to County Public Health. All were age 65 or older. One individual had underlying health conditions prior to their death, one did not and the health status of the third is unknown.
New COVID-19 cases since Friday tally 70, County Public Health reported. Saturday accounted for 28 of the weekend’s laboratory confirmed infections, Sunday claimed 22 and Monday 20.
There have now been 8,820 known coronavirus infections in Merced County since the first case was confirmed locally.
Of those total cases, 462 are presumed to be currently active. Monday’s active case count represents a notable reduction from Friday’s, when estimates put it at 548.
Infections labeled as active are an estimate based on the number of new laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases within the last two weeks.
While the active case tally falls, the percentage of all residents screened for coronavirus over the last week whose results returned positive also remained lower than recent weeks. Although the data point rose slightly to 5% on Monday, it held steady below the critical state-imposed maximum of 8%.
Until recently, Merced County had exceeded 8%, meaning reopening portions of the local economy was still out of reach.
While the county must still meet other state-defined thresholds before it is permitted to open more nonessential businesses, remaining under 8% testing positivity is a positive sign for Merced County.
Whether testing positivity continues to stay low will be crucial in the coming days and weeks.
Officials monitoring for Labor Day surge
Two weeks ago, Merced County public health officials warned ahead of the Labor Day weekend that following health guidelines during the holiday would be crucial in avoiding a case spike like those seen after other holidays during the pandemic.
Health officials have said it typically takes at least two weeks for COVID-19 cases to be laboratory confirmed and reported to the county after transmission takes place. That means that if a Labor Day-related case surge does occur, infections will just begin to be reported.
Also on Monday, active coronavirus outbreaks decreased by one workplace to 11 total. The Dole facility in the City of Atwater was struck from the regional list of COVID-19 outbreaks, meaning no new cases have been linked to the workplace for 14 days.
No additional locations were added to the active outbreaks list.
The number of residents currently hospitalized on account of severe COVID-19 cases continued to tally 59 on Monday. However, the number of residents ever hospitalized due to COVID-19 rose from 676 on Friday to 681 on Monday, indicating a number of new patients over the weekend.
A total of 52,654 coronavirus tests have been completed in Merced County to date. Of those, 16.8% of tests have returned positive — a decrease from two weeks ago, when about 18% of all tests were positive.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
