Merced County reports five new COVID deaths, 61 new cases
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The Merced County Department of Public Heath reported five new COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday afternoon, bringing the total number of fatalities to 412 since the start of the pandemic.
Of the latest deaths, four were women and one was a man. All five of the deceased were over the age of 65 and at least four were known to have underlying health conditions.
On Thursday, Merced County also reported 61 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 29,325 residents who have been infected since the start of the pandemic.
There are 940 Merced County residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 122 cases since Monday.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 22 — with two people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had eight ICU beds remaining as of Wednesday.
Merced County has a positivity rate of 5.7%, meaning the level of people among those who’ve been tested who had a positive result. That’s a decrease from 6% last week.
10% of California adults fully vaccinated
The California Department of Public Health on its online vaccine data tracker reported Thursday providers have administered 9,673,787 doses to date.
The numbers from CDPH don’t distinguish between first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that over 6.7 million Californians have received at least one dose, and just over 3 million have had both doses.
That means 22% of the state’s adult population are at least partially vaccinated and 10% of adults are fully vaccinated.
According to Merced County data, 5.1% of the 287,420 residents have been vaccinated.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials announced Thursday morning that California will begin setting aside 40% of its vaccine supply for the lowest quartile of communities within the state’s Healthy Places Index, which measures poverty levels and other factors that impact health care access.
About 1.6 million doses — 17% of the statewide total — have been administered in communities representing the bottom 25% within the HPI index, compared to 34% among residents in the top quartile, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said on a teleconference briefing with reporters Thursday morning.
“Some of the focus on our vaccine equity plan will be to double the vaccine allotment” to the lowest quartile so that vaccination rates are “at least as high in those communities as any other,” he said.
Around the Valley
As the Valley awaits having a third vaccine available for residents, counties issued updates Thursday of cases and fatalities attributed to COVID-19. They include:
Fresno County: 108 new cases Thursday, 95,893 to date; eight additional deaths, 1,466 to date. More than half of the deaths reported in Fresno County over the past 12 months have been acknowledged within the past nine weeks since Jan. 1.
Stanislaus County: 75 new cases, 50,802 to date; two additional deaths, 955 deaths to date.
Kings County: 28 new cases since Tuesday, 22,119 to date; seven additional deaths, 227 to date. State prisons in Avenal and Corcoran account for more than 7,200 of Kings County’s cases, as well as 17 deaths.
Madera County: 36 new cases, 15,508 to date; no additional deaths, 214 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 395 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Tulare County: 49 new cases, 48,163 to date; no additional deaths, 768 to date.
Since the region’s first case of coronavirus disease was confirmed on March 6, 2020, more than 211,400 residents have been infected with COVID-19 at some point, whether they experienced symptoms or not.
Of those, almost 3,100 people lost their lives to the disease, according to health officials in the six counties. Nearly half of those deaths have been reported just since Jan. 1.
The Fresno Bee and Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 6:22 PM.
