San Benito County has seen a huge jump of Covid-19 cases since the end of July. Public Health Services say a lot of it stems from residents continuing to host and attend private gatherings without practicing social distancing.
Public health officials on Aug. 27 issued a statement saying that locals continue to have social gatherings such as family barbecues, pool parties, adolescent and youth mixers, causing coronavirus cases to increase by 44 percent since July 31.
According to county officials, social gatherings add a significant increase in cases in San Benito County. They said that young people infected with the virus can be “super spreaders” as they are often asymptomatic, or have mild symptoms that may go undetected.
“Younger people who have no symptoms, will eventually interact with their parents and grandparents and could unknowingly spread the disease,” said Lynn Mello, Deputy Director of San Benito County Public Health Services, in the press release.
Mello said they noticed that people are participating in events where they can be exposed and cause the infection rate to increase within the county.
As of Aug. 27, there have been 1,018 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in San Benito County. Seven local residents have died of the virus, according to county officials.
According to the county officials, all seven deaths in the county were over the age of 60 and each person had existing underlying conditions. Six of the deaths reported were male, five were identified as Hispanic/Latinx and two as white/non-Hispanic.
Confirmed cases include patients who have since recovered and those who are deceased. The county’s public health department Covid-19 dashboard shows that three people are hospitalized within the county and two are currently in intensive care units.
The data from the Public Health Services’ latest community newsletter shows that 11,743 patients have been tested for the novel coronavirus locally. Of these, 10,698 have tested negative and 913 patients have recovered from the virus.
Of the 1,018 positive cases of Covid-19, 147 patients are in the 0-17 age group; 573 are in the 18-49 age group; 204 are in the 50-64; and 93 are age 65 or older.
In California, there have been 683,529 total cases reported, and 12,550 deaths from Covid-19.
Tracey Belton, Director of San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency, said in the press release that they recommend people not to mix with others outside their home and practice physical distancing.
“In order to get off the state’s monitoring list and reopen San Benito County, we need the cooperation of the community to stop the spread and decrease our number of cases,” Belton said.
Anyone with signs or symptoms of Covid-19 should seek care from your medical provider or contact the hospital emergency department, health officials said.
Anyone concerned about a close exposure (less than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes) and wants to be tested, should wait 7 to 14 days after the last exposure and seek testing at the OptumServe testing site in Hollister by visiting https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 1-888-634-1123.
