New Year’s weekend tips Merced County past 700 COVID deaths, as cases spike nationwide
Lives lost to the COVID-19 virus in Merced County tipped past the 700 threshold over the New Year’s weekend, blighting the start of 2022 with a death toll of 706 since the start of the pandemic, according the Merced County Department of Public Health.
Monday’s fatality count, reported as part of Merced County’s first COVID-19 data update of the new year, represented a sharper uptick in COVID-19 deaths than the prior year. County Public Health’s first COVID-19 update of 2021 reported 264 total deaths. Since then, 442 new deaths have been reported.
Whether COVID-19-caused deaths will slow over the course of the new year remains to be seen.
The seven deaths confirmed between the five days since the county’s last COVID-19 update on Dec. 29 and Monday stood as a stark reminder of the case surge that blemished the holiday weekend while the omicron variant continues to rapidly spread.
Cases soar in Merced County, neighboring Valley communities
In less than a week, known Merced County COVID-19 cases have soared from 845 active infections on Dec. 29 to 1,554 on Monday.
The near doubling of active cases in just five days saw the largest spike on Sunday, with 204 new infections confirmed – the highest daily tally since Aug. 26 during the long summer surge. Recent high counts mirror case spikes seen last January, when COVID-19 vaccines were not yet widely available and the winter surge regularly launched daily case counts upward of 200 and 300 cases.
A similar trend occurred across the six counties of the central San Joaquin Valley. Throughout Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties, at least 3,651 cases were reported by local health departments, up from 2,027 cases a week earlier and by far the largest number of weekly cases since mid-November.
The increase in cases reflects an increase in the rate at which the virus is spreading in Merced County and the Valley in recent weeks.
Unlike last winter, the widespread availability of vaccines could temper the number of cases as well as the severity of illness for those who get sick.
However, the highly contagious delta variant, which has raged in the Valley and across the U.S. during the fall, and the even-more-transmissible omicron variant that is rapidly becoming the dominant strain in the U.S. after it’s first detection in November, have prompted health officials to reiterate their pleas for people to get vaccinated.
Within a matter of weeks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates the proportion of new COVID-19 cases nationwide from the omicron variant climbed from less than 1% in the first week of December to nearly 60% by the week ending Dec. 25.
A rising number of “breakthrough” infections among vaccinated people have also given rise to calls for booster shots, as well as reminders to practice other measures to avoid spreading or catching the virus. This includes frequent hand washing or sanitizing, wearing face coverings when in public, avoiding large crowds and limiting gatherings to only a few people, and staying home and isolating if feeling ill.
Information about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine or test is available on the Merced County Department of Public Health’s website.
Still, the rate at which the virus is spreading among the population in Valley counties is slower than it is statewide, as well as in more populous areas such as Contra Costa, Orange, Los Angeles and San Mateo counties.
More on latest Merced County COVID-19 numbers
Total laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases in Merced County rose to 48,055 total infections since the pandemic’s start as of Monday. One year ago, the tally stood at less than half that at 20,402.
The boost in cases over the holiday weekend accompanied a rise in local positivity rates and daily cases per 100,000 residents as well. The positivity rate increased to 9.8% on Monday from 7.5% five days earlier, while daily cases per 100,000 rose to 23.2 from 17.8.
County Public Health continues to report that 44.46% of all local residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Active county-wide hospitalizations rose slightly over the weekend by four patients to 24 total.
Meanwhile, regional intensive care unit capacity improved slightly to 17.2% from 16.8%. Still, the Valley’s ICU capacity remained the lowest of any other region across the state.
With seven beds free across Merced County, local ICU availability also improved to the highest number of beds available since Nov. 18.
The Fresno Bee’s Tim Sheehan contributed to this report.
