San Benito County Public Health officials report the number of new Covid-19 cases are still on the rise, including another death in their latest newsletter.
As of Jan. 7, the county reported a 35th death of the novel coronavirus in San Benito County. It’s the first death reported since Jan. 4 and the sixth fatality reported this month.
The county’s Covid-19 dashboard shows that there have been 4,127 confirmed cases and currently 619 active cases, and 92 new cases recorded as of Thursday afternoon. It also shows that 15 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 27,400 tested for the novel coronavirus locally. Of these, 22,872 have tested negative and 3,473 patients have recovered.
The data from the Public Health Services’ latest community newsletter shows that of the 4,127 positive cases of Covid-19, 136 patients are in the 0-4 age group; 1,048 are in the 5-24 age group; 1,822 are in the 25-49; 784 patients are in the 50-64 age group; and 336 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. 4. The county, according to state data, had a case rate of 80.3 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 15.4 percent for the week of Dec. 20-26.
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 74.1 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 15 percent for the week of Dec. 20-26.
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.
