Merced County reports four new COVID-19 deaths on Friday, 104 new cases
The Merced Department of Public Health reported four news COVID-19 deaths on Friday, bringing the total to 388 since the start of the pandemic.
Of the latest deaths, three were men and one was a woman. Three of the deceased were over the age of 65 and the other was 50 to 64 years of age. At least two of the deceased were known to have underlying health conditions and one was not known to have underlying health conditions.
Merced County also reported 104 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of residents who have been infected by the virus to 28,489.
There are 1,355 Merced County residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 411 cases in the last 10 days.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 29 — an decrease of three cases since Tuesday — with 15 people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had two ICU beds remaining as of Thursday.
Merced County currently has a positivity rate of 6.8%, meaning the level of people among those who’ve been tested who had a positive result.
California to reserve vaccines for teachers
California will set aside 10% of all vaccine first doses for teachers and child care workers starting March 1 with the goal of getting kids back into classrooms, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
His announcement comes a day after top Democratic lawmakers announced a school reopening plan that aims to get elementary school and special needs students back into classrooms by April 15 if their case rates are low enough.
Claudia Briggs, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, praised the governor’s decision to set aside vaccines for teachers.
“The governor’s announcement today that 10% of vaccines will be set aside for educators is an important step to make sure teachers have access to the vaccine before opening schools,” she said.
Possible side effects
Fewer than 7,000 people reported having side effects from COVID-19 vaccines after the first 13.7 million doses were administered in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Of the 6,994 people who said they had side effects between Dec. 14 and Jan. 13, 640 were considered serious, the CDC said.
The findings were reported in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and were monitored by a system that records submitted side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
The most common side effects were headache (22.4%), fatigue (16.5%) and dizziness (16.5%), according to the CDC. It said 113 deaths were reported, including 78 individuals who lived in long-term care facilities.
Muscle pain, chills, fever, swelling at the injection site, joint pain and nausea were also recorded after vaccinations.
Around the Valley
Fresno County reported 179 new cases of the virus, which brings the total since March to 93,734. Eleven new deaths reported on Friday bring that total to 1,367.
Stanislaus County reported five new deaths, bringing the total to 921 since the start of the pandemic. There were 132 new cases, raising the total to 49,482.
Tulare County reported 88 new cases to bring the total to 47,399 since the pandemic began. Three new deaths pushed the total to 720 fatal cases.
Kings County added 77 new cases but no new deaths. Those totals are now 15,153 and 201, respectively.
Madera County did not report any new fatal cases on Friday, which leaves that total at 201, Thirty-five new infections bring the total to 15,153 cases since the pandemic began.
Mariposa County has seen 389 cases and seven deaths.
The Fresno Bee and Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 5:33 PM.
