Merced County reports one new COVID death, 43 new cases on Wednesday
%20(1)%20(1).jpg)
The Merced County Department of Public Health reported one new COVID-19 death on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total of fatalities to 417 since the start of the pandemic.
Also on Wednesday, Merced County reported 43 new cases, raising the total number of residents who have been infected by the virus to 29,643 since the start of the pandemic.
New cases of coronavirus infection have generally been on a downward trend in recent weeks. Wednesday was the second consecutive day the county reported 43 new cases — the second lowest daily case count since there were 26 cases reported Nov. 15. There were 41 new COVID-19 cases reported on Feb. 25.
There are 769 county residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 133 since Monday.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 19 — with seven people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had three ICU beds remaining as of Tuesday.
Merced County has a positivity rate of 5.6%, indicating the level of people among those tested who had a positive result. That’s a slight increase from 5.5% on Monday.
Around the Valley
Among neighboring counties in the central San Joaquin Valley, Wednesday updates included:
Fresno County: reported 79 new cases, 96,744 to date; no new deaths, 1,509 total.
Stanislaus County: 100 new cases, 51,399 to date; one new death, 960 to date.
Kings County: 24 new cases, 22, 250 to date; no additional deaths, 229 to date. Of the totals, state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran have accounted for more than 7,200 infections and 17 deaths.
Madera County: four new cases, 15,636 to date; no additional deaths, 222 to date. State prisons near Chowchilla account for 2,451 of the county’s cases.
Mariposa County: one new case, 396 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Tulare County: 33 new cases, 48,432 to date; five additional deaths, 781 to date.
Throughout the six-county region, the number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 over the past year has grown to more than 213,000, including 3165 people who have died.
Across the Valley, 242 patients were in hospitals Tuesday with confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 53 in intensive-care units. Another 44 suspected coronavirus cases were also under hospital care.
The state Department of Public Health reported 6,412 new COVID-19 cases statewide on Tuesday, the most recent date for which information was available, bringing the total infections to date to more than 3.5 million. The state also reported 226 additional fatalities from the coronavirus, pushing the death toll in California to 54,621.
