Merced County’s total COVID-19 deaths surpass 100. Hospitalizations see slight increase

Merced County’s COVID-19 related death toll hit triple digits Monday, as seven new deaths have been recorded since Friday, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health.

The county’s death toll now stands at 106. The latest deaths included two women and five men. Five of the dead are said to be age 65 or older, with one between the ages of 50-64 and another between the ages of 35-49.

Health officials said it is unknown if the residents had underlying health conditions.

Monday’s report was the latest coronavirus data for the county released since Friday.

There have been as 225 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Merced County: 51 on Saturday, 71 on Sunday and 103 on Monday.

Since the first reported case in March 22, there have been a total of 7,653 laboratory confirmed cases in Merced County. Presumed active cases, which are cases that have been confirmed within the past 14 days, decreased since Friday’s numbers to 1,917.

Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have begun to tick upward in Merced County, though not dramatically.

According to the latest health department data, 78 residents are currently hospitalized — an increase of two patients since Thursday. Officials say 29 of those patients are hospitalized in Merced County. The others are being cared for elsewhere.

A total of 521 Merced County residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

According to the health department, 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 currently 19.13 percent with with 40,111 tests conducted.

There have been 667,983 confirmed cases in the state of California and 12,151 deaths.