Coronavirus reported at Merced County skilled nursing facility. No new local deaths reported
No additional deaths of Merced County residents related to the novel coronavirus were reported on Wednesday, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health’s daily update.
However, active coronavirus outbreaks did increase by one on Wednesday with the addition of Merced Behavioral Health Center, which raised the list to 19 current outbreaks. The center is described as a 96-bed skilled nursing facility serving individuals age 18-65, according to its website.
A Wednesday update on the center’s site says one employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Several other employees tested positive at the facility during the months of June and July, but the facility was clear for all of August. Various preventative protections for staff, residents and visitors are listed on the site’s COVID-19 page.
Days without any confirmed COVID-19 deaths have become rare in Merced County during recent months, as both cases and fatalities began to spike.
Over the last several weeks, however, new laboratory confirmed infections and deaths have gone down.
“It is a step in the right direction, and a much slower rate of growth than what we have been seeing previously,” Merced County supervising epidemiologist Kristynn Sullivan said of local COVID-19 data at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
More local COVID-19 data
New COVID-19 cases on Wednesday numbered 47, bringing the county’s caseload since the pandemic’s start to 8,692.
Of that total, 611 residents are presumed to be actively sick. The active case tally is an estimate, however, based on the number of laboratory confirmed positive cases within the last two weeks. It has consistently decreased in recent weeks.
Also on the decline is the percentage of residents screened for coronavirus over the last seven days who test positive. The data point dropped from 5.1% to 4.8% on Wednesday.
The critical metric is one of the guiding thresholds for counties, like Merced, that are currently subject to the most stringent state-mandated restrictions to reopen more of the local economy. Counties must consistently show a testing positivity percentage of less than 8% for two straight weeks to advance toward opening nonessential businesses.
Lately, testing in general has increased in Merced County to the point where testing supplies are outpacing demand, public health officials said on Tuesday.
“Everyone should get a test,” Merced County Public Health Director Dr. Rebecca Nanyonjo-Kemp said on Tuesday. “We have the surplus here, we have the capacity.”
Free mobile testing sites for residents are available through the month of September.
Expanded testing provides a more accurate perspective of the state of COVID-19 cases locally. Currently, testing availability is working in the county’s favor, as reflected by the declining percentage of positive tests, health officials noted.
Additionally, it aids in locating asymptomatic individuals who don’t feel sick but have in fact contracted the novel coronavirus.
Even if Merced County reaches two weeks under the crucial 8%, however, it first must lower its number of positive cases per 100,000 residents to under seven before any reopening occurs. According to the most recent state data, Merced County currently stands at 9.5 positive cases per 100,000 residents.
Consistently hitting 20 new daily cases or less would push Merced County toward a more relaxed set of state-approved reopening rules, Sullivan said.
Current hospitalizations of Merced County residents increased by three patients on Wednesday to 64, according to County Public Health. Active hospitalization have generally fallen over the past couple weeks, but not as rapidly as the declining daily case counts.
Of those current patients, 14 individuals are hospitalized locally while the remaining majority is cared for at outside facilities.
The number of residents ever hospitalized due to COVID-19 since the pandemic’s start also increased to 671.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
