Merced County reports 77 coronavirus cases in one day, as July 4 weekend approaches
Merced County saw another steep increase in total coronavirus infections Thursday with the addition of 77 new cases to the tally, according to County Department of Public Health.
Known local positive cases since the pandemic began are now 1,208 total.
The additional positive cases did not set a new record, but came close to the highest single day case count yet of 85 infections, which was reported Tuesday.
Current infections that are severe enough to mandate hospitalization stand at 27 as of Thursday, up from 24 on Wednesday. A total of 99 Merced County residents have been hospitalized since the pandemic began.
Active cases, now defined by County Public Health as those confirmed within the last two weeks, rose by 60 to 670.
County Public Health wrote on Facebook that the change is due to a rapid case increase, which has suspended active case management so that officials are no longer able to clear individual cases or accurately track recoveries. The “probable active” case count is an estimate.
Cases are surging in the City of Merced, which claims nearly half of all known cases with 508 infected residents. Since Monday, 75 known city residents have contracted the virus.
Atwater surpassed Los Banos last week as the second most affected city, with 169 total cases since the pandemic began. Los Banos has 146 total reported infections.
To date, 11 Merced County residents have died from complications as a result of the virus.
The percentage of individuals screened for coronavirus who have tested positive broke the 8% threshold Thursday, too. The rate is being dragged up by a consistently higher seven day average, which the state uses as a metric to measure county’s coronavirus demographics.
As of Thursday, the positive case rate is 11.8% over the most recent seven day period that data is available for.
Merced County’s rising cases and hospitalizations contributed to it being placed on a California Department of Public Health watch list Monday. The county was flagged for elevated disease transmission, increasing hospitalizations and limited hospital capacity.
Merced and 18 other counties on the state’s list were ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday to shut down indoor operations for certain businesses, including restaurants, and close all bars and breweries.
Now, the counties have 21 days to get coronavirus under control locally.
“We cannot emphasize enough that if the community fails to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously, the state will not allow these sectors to reopen, and may close additional sectors,” a Wednesday County Public Health news release said.
Following the news, Sheriff Vern Warnke released a statement Thursday urging residents to practice precautions during, and after, the upcoming Independence Day weekend. He asked Merced County to mask up, wash hands and social distance.
County Public Health in a Thursday news release reported that past holiday weekends have resulted in a ballooning of cases two weeks later when infections are confirmed. Mother’s Day led to a 54% case increase (92 new infections), Memorial Day a 44% increase (119 infections) and Father’s Day a 96% increase (515 infections).
The Sheriff’s Office, County Public Health and County CEO’s office made the decision to preemptively shutter area parks to deter large gatherings and household mixing during the holiday weekend. Lake Yosemite in Merced, Henderson Park in Snelling and Hagaman Park in Livingston will close to the public Friday through Sunday.
Warnke said deputies will be on site to enforce the closures.
“The State has made it very clear that should the cases continue to increase without change over the next 21-day period, they may have to intervene or require that the County return to sheltering in place,” said Dr. Rebecca Nanyonjo-Kemp, Merced County’s Public Health Director, in the release.
Nanyonjo-Kemp said that despite working “so hard” over the past several months to keep COVID-19 numbers low, cases are rising faster than ever. She said that while County Public Health does its part, the department is depending on residents in the community to do theirs.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 5:47 PM.
