Coronavirus update: Merced County reports 105 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths
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The Merced County Department of Public Health reported 105 new confirmed coronavirus infections on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 28,306 since the start of the pandemic.
There were no new local deaths due to the virus reported Wednesday. The total number of Merced County fatalities remains at 382.
There are 1,392 Merced County residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 336 cases in the past seven days.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 30 — an decrease of two cases since Tuesday — with 12 people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had two ICU beds remaining as of Tuesday.
Merced County currently has a positivity rate of 7.6%, meaning the level of people among those who’ve been tested who had a positive result. That’s a decrease from 8.9% a week ago.
Vaccine supply uncertainty an issue in California
California is about nine weeks into the mass vaccination campaign to combat the coronavirus pandemic and officials say that while the pace is improving, supply uncertainty remains the main obstacle.
The California Department of Public Health on its vaccine tracker reported Wednesday providers have administered 6,435,184 of the 8.4 million doses distributed to hospital systems and health offices, an increase of 172,403 doses.
According to vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 4.8 million people have received at least one dose in California, which means about 12% of the state’s 40 million residents are at least partially vaccinated. More than 1.5 million, about 4% of the state’s population, are fully vaccinated.
Merced County is far behind the state number of 12% with just 3.3% of county residents who have received at least the first dose of the vaccine.
The CDC on its tracking dashboard reported California through Tuesday has administered 16,003 doses for every 100,000 residents, which ranks 33rd among the 50 states.
At a news conference unveiling a new vaccination center in Coachella on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California is distributing about 200,000 doses per day. The constraint preventing a faster pace, he said, is supply.
Around the Valley on Wednesday
Fresno County: 132 new cases, 93,363 to date since the first local coronavirus infection was confirmed in early March 2020; no new deaths as of mid-afternoon Wednesday, 1,341 to date.
Stanislaus County: 138 new cases, 49,266 to date; five additional deaths, 910 to date.
Kings County: 38 new cases, 21,696 to date; four additional deaths, 213 to date.
Madera County: Nine new cases, 15,073 to date; no additional deaths, 201 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 388 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Tulare County: 286 new cases, 47,220 to date; nine additional deaths, 706 to date.
Across the six-county region, more than 206,000 people have tested positive for the virus over the past 11 1/2 months; of those, 2,850 have died of complications from COVID-19.
Statewide, about 3.4 million cases have been reported through Tuesday, and California’s death toll reached 47,507.
The Fresno Bee and Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 5:52 PM.
