Merced County COVID-19 total deaths hit 275, after 6 new deaths reported Thursday
COVID-19 has led to six more lives lost in Merced County, the local public health department reported on Thursday.
The pandemic has now resulted in fatalities for 275 known residents to date.
Four of the deceased individuals were women and two were men, according to County Public Health. Two were between 50-64-years-old and the other four were age 65 or older. All six were confirmed to have underlying health conditions prior to their deaths.
The latest fatalities comes one day after the U.S. reached a new record in terms of COVID-19 deaths reported in a single day. Nationwide novel coronavirus deaths were reported at 3,900 on Wednesday.
The Merced County Department of Public Health recorded 224 additional positive COVID-19 tests Thursday. Since the pandemic’s start, 21,139 residents have tested positive for the virus.
Cases considered currently active — a rough estimate — fell again on Thursday by 44 to 3,086. Cases are deemed active if they were laboratory confirmed within the last 14 days.
Other important metrics continued in a concerning direction. Two of the primary indicators used by the state to assign counties into business reopening tiers are new daily cases per 100,000 residents and COVID-19 positivity rates. Both worsened in Merced County on Thursday.
The county’s new daily cases per 100,000 residents grew to 62 from 59.1. That metric must be brought down drastically to seven or less before more businesses reopen.
COVID-19 positivity, indicated by the percentage of positive tests compared to all tests during the last week, increased to 15.2% from 14.4%. The percentage will have to fall to 8% or fewer for businesses to reopen.
Also inhibiting more businesses from reopening at a higher capacity is the continued weak state of hospital resources in the San Joaquin Valley. The region, which includes Merced County, was again at 0% intensive care unit capacity as of Thursday.
The Southern California region also remained at 0% ICU bed availability. The Bay Area and Greater Sacramento regions worsened as well, but reported higher ICU capacities.
Businesses in these areas will remain under lockdown orders until the regions improve to at least 15% ICU bed availability.
County Public Health reported two additional COVID-19 hospitalizations on Thursday, increasing the number of patients currently hospitalized for the virus to 55.
State-reported data tallied just three available ICU beds in Merced County for the second day in a row as of Wednesday.
Decrease in local outbreaks
One bright spot among the county’s data Thursday was another significant drop in active COVID-19 outbreaks. Locations deemed as having outbreaks decreased to 55 from 62, as nine facilities were removed from the list and two new ones added.
Outbreaks are defined as at least three COVID-19 cases linked to a workplace within two weeks, except for skilled nursing facilities, where just one case constitutes an outbreak. Locations are cleared when no further cases are traced back for two weeks.
The two new outbreaks are at Laird Manufacturing Service Center and C and D Guest Homes #3, according to County Public Health.
Workplaces cleared from the outbreak list are: Atwater, El Capitan, Golden Valley and Livingston high schools, Juvenile Hall, Creative Alternatives Merced Ranch and Harmony locations, Central Star Crisis Stabilization Unit and Trident Center.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 5:56 PM.
