San Benito County Public Health officials report the number of new Covid-19 cases continue to decrease but their latest newsletter reported another new death.
On Jan. 25, the county reported its 52nd death of the novel coronavirus in San Benito County. This is the fourth death reported this week and the 23rd fatality this month.
The county’s Covid-19 dashboard shows that there have been 5,225 confirmed cases and currently 329 active cases, and 23 new cases recorded as of Wednesday afternoon. It also shows that 10 people are hospitalized within the county, with five of those in the intensive care unit.
Confirmed cases include patients who have since recovered and those who are deceased. There’s been 30,463 tested for the novel coronavirus locally. Of these, 25,210 have tested negative and 4,844 patients have recovered.
The data from the Public Health Services’ latest community newsletter shows that of the 5,172 positive cases of Covid-19, 164 patients are in the 0-4 age group; 1,362 are in the 5-24 age group; 2,284 are in the 25-49; 999 patients are in the 50-64 age group; and 415 are age 64 or older.
The newsletter also shows that San Benito County remains in the most restricted purple “widespread” risk level as of Jan. 25. The county, according to state data, had a case rate of 92.2 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 15.7 percent for the week of Jan. 10-16.
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 71.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 12.4 percent for the week of Jan. 10-16.
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.
