Merced’s coronavirus infections reach new high. Public data reporting falls behind
The Merced County Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard has gone nearly a week without an update.
Local health officials say the delay in reporting is because of the current case surge and changes to how the California Department of Public Health processes data. The dashboard was last updated on Friday.
The state is still reporting numbers for Merced County, but that data lags a day behind and has, in the past, had discrepancies compared to the county’s dashboard. It also does not include data like local COVID-19 outbreaks and the county’s testing positivity.
County Public Health released limited numbers on Wednesday and Thursday. An additional 1,328 positive cases were confirmed since Friday. That brings the total number of residents who have tested positive for the virus to 15,811.
New active COVID-19 outbreaks since Friday tally 11. They are: Creative Alternatives - Merced Ranch, El Nido Elementary School, Elim Elementary School, Pacheco High School, John B Sanfilippo & Son, MCOE Special Education - Winfield and Cooper locations, McSwain Elementary School West Campus, Me-N-Ed’s - Los Banos, Minturn Nut Co. and Teasdale Latin Foods.
Reported active infections tallied over the 3,000-case threshold for the first time this week. They number at 3,189 as of Thursday. Cases presumed active are calculated via the number of new positive tests during the last two weeks.
Testing positivity, meaning the percentage of residents screened for the virus over the last week whose results are positive, came to 13.2% as of Thursday.
The report also showed five additional local fatalities since Friday — an update not reflected on the state’s dashboard. The increase brought known lives lost to the highly infectious disease to 212.
The COVID-19 dashboard issues come amid what the county’s top health officer said are the highest case rates seen yet in Merced County, surpassing even the summer surge.
California, too, is setting grim records with new daily cases and fatalities.
But good news is arriving in the form of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine deliveries. Almost 1,000 doses were slated to arrive in Merced County by the end of the week.
The first doses are reserved for the healthcare sector to protect workers from contracting the virus and further weakening the stressed healthcare system.
Further information about COVID-19 vaccines is expected from County Public Health on Friday.
Hospital resources stretched in California’s Central Valley
Intensive care unit availability remains cripplingly low in the San Joaquin Valley at .7% in the 12-county region. That’s only slightly better than the 0% availability reported recently.
The Valley until Thursday had consistently ranked worst in the state for ICU availability. But the Southern California region, which covers 11 counties, has now dropped to the 0% mark.
State mandated stay-at-home orders also went into effect in the Bay Area on Thursday. In-person dining must cease, and bars, wineries, and other economic sectors must close entirely in each of the 11 counties.
The orders are triggered when a region’s ICU availability dips below 15%. Northern California, which is home to less than 2% of California’s population, remains the only region not subject to the orders.
The closures last at least three weeks from the date they begin. State health officials have said the hope is that the new stay-at-home orders will smother the virus’s rapid spread and avoid overwhelming hospitals.
ICU availability statewide decreased to just 3%.
Free ICU beds in Merced County still tallied seven as of Wednesday, according to the most recent data reported by the state. Merced County has a total of 24 ICU beds.
Twelve of the 59 total in-county COVID-19 patients were being cared for in the ICU on Wednesday.
Merced County’s ICU availability has not dipped to the extreme lows seen in other counties, like Fresno, where free ICU beds dropped to 0%.
But local health officials say Merced County is still on thin ice. It could be the difference of just one bad night that puts the county in the same strained position, public health officials say.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 6:16 PM.
