San Benito County Public Health officials report the number of new Covid-19 cases continue to grow on a daily basis, including two new deaths in their latest newsletter.
On Jan. 11, the county reported its 40th and 41st deaths of the novel coronavirus in San Benito County. These are the fourth and fifth deaths reported this week and the 11th and 12th fatalities this month.
The county’s Covid-19 dashboard shows that there have been 4,596 confirmed cases and currently 701 active cases, and 88 new cases recorded as of Wednesday afternoon. It also shows that 17 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 28,280 tested for the novel coronavirus locally. Of these, 23,665 have tested negative and 3,854 patients have recovered.
The data from the Public Health Services’ latest community newsletter shows that of the 4,451 positive cases of Covid-19, 145 patients are in the 0-4 age group; 1,189 are in the 5-24 age group; 2,019 are in the 25-49; 877 patients are in the 50-64 age group; and 365 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. 11. The county, according to state data, had a case rate of 95.9 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 16.3 percent for the week of Dec. 27, 2020-Jan. 2.
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 91.7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of 17.6 percent for the week of Dec. 27, 2020-Jan. 2.
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.
