Merced and other Valley counties remain on strictest COVID-19 tier, as new cases grow
Merced County remained on California’s most restrictive COVID-19 tier Tuesday — as rising confirmed infections made the prospect of more businesses reopening less likely, at least for now.
Despite worsening case numbers over the last eight days, on a positive note no additional pandemic-related deaths were reported Tuesday by the Merced County Department of Public Health.
COVID-19 has claimed 179 local lives in Merced County to date.
New confirmed cases on Tuesday tallied 72 — lower than recent days, but still notably higher than the low number seen during September and October.
The new laboratory confirmed infections increased the county’s total caseload to 11,460 since the pandemic’s start.
Most counties on purple tier
A majority of counties last week, including Merced, were placed in the strictest of the four reopening tiers on account of worsening COVID-19 metrics.
The stringent tier is labeled “purple” and considered to have widespread risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Many nonessential businesses were mandated to decrease or entirely cease indoor activities.
A rising number of new daily cases per 100,000 residents and growing testing positivity are among the metrics that landed Merced County in the most restrictive tier.
Generally, lower numbers mean more sectors of a county’s economy may open at increased capacity.
As of Tuesday’s update, 20.5 residents per 100,000 tested positive of COVID-19 each day over a week-long average. That’s up from 16.8 new cases per 100,000 last week.
Any county with more than seven new cases per 100,000 residents is grouped into the purple tier. Merced County’s new daily cases are almost triple that, and it will take a significant reduction to get the county back on track to increased economic reopening.
Testing positivity came to 7.3% as of Tuesday. The data point shows the percentage of residents screened for the virus over the last week whose results are positive. Last week, it was 6.2%.
The county’s testing positivity is still compliant with the second tier’s threshold, which ranges from 5-8%. But positivity has steadily risen in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, it was 4.8%.
Counties across the Central Valley are experiencing similar strains.
Kings, Madera, Fresno and Tulare counties all remained in the purple tier along with Merced County in Tuesday’s tier assignments.
Mariposa County last week was one of only two counties in yellow Tier 1, the least restrictive tier for business openings. It slid this week into orange Tier 3.
Forty-five of California’s 58 counties now reside in the purple tier. Eight other counties are in red Tier 2, denoting “substantial” risk of viral transmission. Four counties are in orange Tier 3, where risk of spread is considered “moderate.”
Reverting to the purple tier means restaurants, churches and some other sectors of the community remain limited to outdoor-only operations.
Plus, just ahead of Black Friday and Christmas, retailers must limit how many customers are permitted indoors during what’s traditionally the busiest shopping season of the year.
Latest Merced County COVID-19 outbreaks
Two more high schools — Golden Valley and Hilmar — were added to the list of Merced County’s active COVID-19 outbreaks. A total of 28 locations are considered to be in active outbreak status.
At least three laboratory confirmed cases linked to a facility within two weeks constitutes an outbreak. The exception is skilled nursing facilities, where only one positive case is considered an outbreak due to the high risk setting.
Of the 28 outbreaks, a quarter of those are at schools or school-related locations. In addition to Tuesday’s additions, they include: Buhach Colony High School, El Capitan High School, Merced High School, Merquin Elementary School and Yamato Colony Merced Count Office of Education ASSETS Program (an after school program).
Outbreaks are closed and struck from the list after there are no further cases at the facility for two weeks.
The number of cases presumed to be active continued to climb as well. At 1,267, estimated active cases are back up to the heights seen in late August.
Active cases are a rough count calculated via the number of positive test results over the last 14 days.
Three more residents are actively hospitalized due to severe cases of the virus, increasing the tally to 46. Of those, 21 are being cared for within Merced County.
The number of patients ever hospitalized for COVID-19 during the pandemic grew by six patients to 774.
A total of 74,149 county residents have been tested for COVID-19 so far and 15.64% of all tests have returned positive.
Other area counties
Stanislaus County: The county reported 274 new cases and two new deaths Tuesday. There have been 420 deaths, 20,932 positive cases and 18,894 recoveries since the pandemic’s start.
Fresno County: 373 new cases, 36,688 to date; six additional deaths, 477 to date.
Kings County: 100 new cases, 10,359 to date; no additional deaths, 87 to date. Kings County’s totals include more than 4,900 infections to date, and 10 deaths, among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 53 new cases, 5,938 to date; three additional deaths, 83 to date.
Mariposa County: Eight new cases, 120 to date; no additional deaths, two to date.
Tulare County: 470 new cases, 20,352 to date; one additional death, 305 to date.
Valleywide, the cumulative number of coronavirus infections since early March has grown to more than 84,300, including 1,133 deaths attributed to the virus.
