San Benito County Public Health officials are reporting that the county set another record of new Covid-19 cases in a single day and broke the 3,000 mark, including another death in their latest newsletter.
As of Dec. 22, the county reported a 24th death of the novel coronavirus in San Benito County. It’s the first death reported since Dec. 17 and the eighth fatality reported this month.
The county’s Covid-19 dashboard shows that there are 3,074 confirmed cases and currently 532 active cases, including a record of 110 new cases recorded in a day as of Tuesday, Dec. 22. It also shows that 10 people are hospitalized within the county, with two of those in the intensive care unit.
Confirmed cases include patients who have since recovered and those who are deceased. There’s been 23,631 tested for the novel coronavirus locally. Of these, 20,550 have tested negative and 2,518 patients have recovered.
The data from the Public Health Services’ latest community newsletter shows that of the 3,074 positive cases of Covid-19, 97 patients are in the 0-4 age group; 785 are in the 5-24 age group; 1,366 are in the 25-49; 580 patients are in the 50-64 age group; and 245 are age 64 or older.
The newsletter also shows that San Benito County remains in the most restricted purple “widespread” risk level as of Dec. 22. The county, according to state data, had a case rate of 68.3 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 16.2 percent for the week of Dec. 6-12.
These numbers are beyond the “widespread” risk level factors for each county, which is more than seven daily new cases per 100,000 residents, and a positivity rate of more than 8 percent.
The statewide data shows 80.7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 13.3 percent for the week of Dec. 6-12.
At a minimum, counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks before moving forward from the purple “widespread” tier to the red “substantial” tier after meeting the criteria of the less restrictive level for 14 consecutive days.
The limits for the “substantial” tier are no more than 4 to 7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents, and a positivity rate between 5-8 percent.
