Two COVID-19 related deaths, 58 new cases reported in Merced County on Wednesday
Merced County recorded 58 new coronavirus cases and two new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths in the county to 97, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health.
Health officials said both of the COVID-19 related deaths reported Wednesday were women over age of 65. It is unknown if either had underlying health conditions, according to a Merced County Department of Public Health news release.
Since the first reported case on March 22, there have been 7,229 laboratory confirmed cases in the Merced County.
According to health department data the county’s presumed active cases — which means they were laboratory confirmed within the past 14 days — decreased to 2,472.
In total, 474 Merced County residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. According to health officials, a total of 81 residents are currently hospitalized. Of those, 36 residents are hospitalized in Merced County, while others are being cared for elsewhere.
According to recent data, Merced County’s positivity level — the percentage of residents screened in the last seven days who have tested positive — is 21.5 percent. The county’s overall positive case percentage is 19.5 percent with 37,135 tests conducted, according to health officials.
Two medical surge field hospitals were set up Tuesday at Merced Medical Center in Merced, according to the news release, in order to allow for additional capacity if there is an influx in patients.
There have been 640,259 confirmed cases in California and 11,523 deaths.
COVID-19 cases in the San Joaquin Valley
Stanislaus County has reported 203 total deaths and 12,745 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 11, 487 recoveries.
Fresno County added 482 new positive patients to what is now 21,798 cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began in March, state health officials reported Wednesday. Health officials did not add any deaths to the total of 205. Of its infected, Fresno County has seen 9,172 recoveries.
Tulare County reported 118 new cases and two new deaths, which makes for a total of 12,836 and 208, respectively, since the beginning of the pandemic.
Madera County tallied 40 new cases, which brings the total to 3,236. No new deaths affected the total, which is 47.
Mariposa County has reported four new cases to reach 69 total. The county has two deaths since the pandemic began.
Kings County had not posted an update as of Wednesday afternoon.
More than 5.5 million people in the country have tested positive for COVID-19, including more than 172,000 fatal cases, according to The COVID Tracking Project and Johns Hopkins University CSSE.