Five more Merced County deaths from COVID-19 reported Friday. Total death count 207
Five more cases of the novel coronavirus have turned fatal for county residents, the Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed on Friday.
The new deaths bring total local fatalities due to COVID-19 to 207. Sixteen of those deaths have been reported in the last seven days.
All five of the deceased were men with underlying health conditions prior to death, according to County Public Health. Two were 50-64-years old and three were age 65 or older.
New COVID-19 cases continued to tally high Friday in Merced County, with the addition of 173 positive tests. Total known cases since the pandemic’s beginning number 14,483.
Infections considered active set another all-time high on Friday at 2,663. That’s 20 cases higher than Thursday’s record. Active infections are an estimate based on the number of new positive tests during the last two weeks.
One week ago, active infections numbered 758 cases fewer at 1,905.
The percentage of residents who tested positive for COVID-19 compared to negative tests during the last seven days improved just lightly Friday. Testing positivity decreased to 13.5% from 13.6%.
More workplace outbreaks added to list
Continuing a trend over the last several days, more COVID-19 outbreaks were confirmed locally and none were struck from the active outbreak list.
There are now a total of 47 active workplace outbreaks in the county. Three new locations listed as having outbreaks are: Los Banos Nursing and Rehab, Hilmar Middle School and the Home Depot in Merced.
Any workplace facility with three or more laboratory confirmed positive cases traced back to it within two weeks is considered to have an outbreak. Skilled nursing facilities are the exception, where only one positive case is considered an outbreak on account of the setting being high-risk.
Locations are removed from active outbreak status when no further cases are linked to a facility for two weeks.
County remains on purple tier
Before Merced County can advance out of the strictest economic reopening tier and open more businesses, testing positivity must decrease to 5-8%.
In addition to being grouped into the most stringent reopening tier, Merced County is also subject to the regional stay-at-home orders triggered by dwindling intensive care unity capacity.
The most recently available state data shows that six of the county’s 24 total ICU beds were open as of Thursday. That’s two less than Wednesday.
Total COVID-19-caused hospitalizations of residents increased by five patients to 857 on Friday, according to county data. Of those, 84 hospitalizations are active — an increase of two patients.
Patients being cared for within the county account for 40 of those hospitalizations.
The San Joaquin Valley, which includes Merced County, fell below 15% ICU capacity and was mandated to close bars, wineries and in-person dining this week.
The Valley so far has ranked worst in terms of free ICUs. After falling as low as 1.9% ICU availability in the 12-county region yesterday, the San Joaquin Valley improved to 4.5% availability on Friday.
Northern California and the Bay Area are the only regions to have not triggered the stay-at-home orders. But at 16.7% as of Friday, the Bay Area is approaching the 15% threshold.
Other impacted regions along with the San Joaquin Valley include the Greater Sacramento Area (14.8% ICU capacity) and Southern California (6.2%).
Statewide, just 9% of ICU beds are open.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 5:58 PM.
