Merced County COVID-19 cases continue to rise, pass 1,000 estimated active infections
Another Merced County resident has died due to the novel coronavirus, the Merced County Department of Public Health reported Friday.
The pandemic has claimed 176 known lives in Merced County. Seven of those fatalities were confirmed this week.
Further information about the most recently deceased individual was not immediately available.
New COVID-19 infections Friday tallied 102, marking the third day in a row that new cases have numbered more than 100. This notes a significant uptick from September and October, when new cases were typically fewer than 50 each day.
Friday’s new positive cases brought the total number confirmed during the pandemic to 10,986.
For the first time since Aug. 28, more than 1,000 of those total cases are presumed to be active.
Active cases are an estimate based on the number of new laboratory confirmed infections over the past two weeks. As of Friday, active cases tallied 1,004.
Positive tests are also making up a higher percentage of overall tests recently. Testing positivity over the last seven days rose to 6.8% Friday from 6.5%.
With more residents contracting COVID-19, the number of individuals hospitalized on account of severe cases of the virus is rising as well.
At 51 current hospitalizations, two more people are actively hospitalized compared to Thursday. Hospitalizations tallied 38 one week ago.
Twenty-five of those individuals are being cared for within the county. A total of 761 residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 to date — six more than yesterday.
Active outbreaks also continued to grow Friday to 23 locations with the addition of Livingston Farmers Association.
At least three laboratory confirmed cases tied to a workplace within 14 days constitutes an outbreak. Skilled nursing facilities, where an outbreak is defined as just one case, are the exception because of the high risk setting.
Outbreaks are closed and removed from the outbreak when no further cases are traced back to the facility for two weeks.
To date, 71,634 coronavirus tests have been performed on Merced County residents and 15.52% of those have returned positive.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 5:13 PM.
