Merced County COVID-19 update: Total deaths reach 175. Outbreaks reported at schools
The Merced County Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed the 175th death of a resident related to the novel coronavirus.
The most recently death was a man, age 65-years-old or older, with underlying health conditions prior to death, according to County Public Health.
Wednesday’s fatality marked the sixth reported death this week, and comes just days after Merced County was moved into California’s most restrictive of the four color-coded reopening tiers, labeled “purple.”
Purple tier counties are defined as having widespread risk of virus transmission, due to rocketing COVID-19 cases statewide.
Businesses in purple tier counties — particularly restaurants — are subject to strong restrictions, such as allowing only outdoor dining and take out. Plus gathering places like churches and gyms are also prohibited from indoor operations.
Because of consistently worsening coronavirus data, Merced County and much of the state were mandated to shutter many indoor business operations on Tuesday.
More schools on outbreaks list
Merced High and El Capitan High were added Wednesday’s to Merced County’s outbreaks list.
The state defines an outbreak as three or more laboratory confirmed cases linked to a workplace within two weeks. The exception is skilled nursing facilities, where an outbreak is defined as just one active case.
Outbreaks are closed and removed from the list when no further cases are traced to the workplace for two weeks.
The addition of Merced and El Capitan High to the list means schools or school-related workplaces now account for a quarter of all known outbreaks county-wide. There are 20 known workplaces countywide considered to have active outbreaks.
Buhach Colony High, Merquin Elementary School and Yamato Colony MCOE ASSETS Program, an after school program, were already on the county’s outbreak list.
Merced, Buhach and El Captian high schools are all part of Merced Union High School District.
MUHSD Deputy Superintendent Ralph Calderon said while cases at schools are concerning, they are expected to occur during the transition back to in-person learning amid the virus’ continued spread.
“We’re not exclusive with what’s happening in our community,” Calderon said, referencing rising cases statewide.
School cases are reported to the Merced County Department of Public Health to determine the source of an outbreak. If the source is found to be on campus, the location is deep cleaned or closed off for at least seven days until it is safe to reenter, Calderon said.
Schools do not have to shut down.
When the source is undetermined, cases are determined to be transmitted via community spread.
Despite the outbreaks, Calderon said the district has confidence in its safety measures.
“We do believe that we have very strong protocols in place,” he said. “Our kids have just been awesome about wearing their masks.”
Still, Calderon said MUHSD schools will likely continue to intermittently appear on the outbreak list, as long as the pandemic persists.
“It will affect our other schools,” Calderon said. “I think it;s naive to think that will not happen.”
Triple C Inc., a concrete contractor in Atwater, was removed from the outbreak list on Wednesday.
Wednesday data
New laboratory confirmed infections on Wednesday tallied 87.
Over the past two weeks, daily cases have often risen to upwards of 50. The shift marks a notable uptick from September and October, when new daily cases usually numbered fewer than 50.
As more cases are reported daily, so too does the number of active cases rise. A total of 869 estimated active cases were reported Wednesday up from 843 on Tuesday. Cases presumed to be active have not tallied that high since Sept. 2.
Active cases are estimated by the number of new laboratory confirmed positive cases during the past two weeks.
Another metric indicating the virus’s increased spread is testing positivity, which shows the percentage of all residents screened for COVID-19 during the last seven days whose results are positive. Merced County’s test positivity was back up to 6.2% on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, it was 3.4%.
Testing positivity is one of several data points used by the state to determine which of the four reopening tiers a county must abide by.
Active hospitalizations of county residents with severe cases of the virus decreased by one patient on Wednesday to 38. Eighteen of those patients are being cared for within the county.
The number of patients ever hospitalized due to COVID-19, however, rose by two individuals to 744.
To date, 70,441 residents have been tested for coronavirus and 15.45% of all tests have returned positive.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 5:46 PM.
