COVID Friday update: About 14% of Merced County vaccinated, one new death confirmed

Merced County Department of Health on Friday confirmed one new death from COVID-19 — a woman age 65 or above with underlying health conditions.

According to the department’s data, 38 new cases were reported Friday and roughly 14 percent of the county’s population has been fully vaccinated.

Since the beginning of the pandemic 439 Merced County residents have died. There have been 30,687 total confirmed cases and around 545 are active.

Merced County remains in purple tier of the state’s COVID rules -- the strictest level. To advance from the purple tier into the red, counties need to meet two key measures for two consecutive weeks:

• Have an average of fewer than 10 new confirmed coronavirus cases each day as a rate per 100,000 residents over the course of a week, and
• Achieve a rate of less than 8% of residents who are tested for coronavirus coming back with positive results.

Merced County’s daily new-case rate Friday was 8 per 100,000 residents -- a decrease of .4 from Wednesday. The county’s positivity rate as of Friday was 3.2%.

If the county retains that rate, it should be able to enter red tier by Tuesday.

Explore these interactive charts and maps tracking the latest data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in Merced County and neighboring counties in California’s central San Joaquin Valley as of Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

Merced County

Valleywide

Tim Sheehan

The Fresno Bee

559-441-6319

Lifelong Valley resident Tim Sheehan has worked as a reporter and editor in the region since 1986, and has been with The Fresno Bee since 1998. He is currently The Bee’s data reporter and also covers California’s high-speed rail project and other transportation issues. He grew up in Madera, has a journalism degree from Fresno State and a master’s degree in leadership studies from Fresno Pacific University. Support my work with a digital subscription