Stanislaus reports two more coronavirus deaths, plus some details on all 19
Two more Stanislaus County residents have died from the coronavirus, officials said, raising the total to 19.
Both were men 65 or older who had “underlying health conditions,” spokesman Royjindar Singh of the Stanislaus County Office of Emergency Services said by phone.
The announcement came on the same day that the county started providing age ranges for all of the deaths. Medical privacy law limits how much can be disclosed.
All 19 of the deceased people were adults with medical conditions predating the arrival of COVID-19. Nine were residents of Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, according to its last online update.
Age, gender breakdowns
The just-released data show that 18 percent of the people who died countywide were 50 to 64 years old, and 82 percent were 65 or older. People under 50 make up 57 percent of the 488 county residents who have tested positive for the virus, but none of the deaths.
The death total includes 11 women and eight men. The gender breakdown is 50-50 among all of the positive tests for COVID-19.
The county had 7,472 people testing negative for the coronavirus as of Saturday morning.
Stanislaus had gone several weeks into the pandemic until reporting its first death on April 10. At the time, adjacent San Joaquin County had 14 deaths, on its way to 28 as of Saturday. Merced County has been at three deaths for nearly a month.
The disease has killed 2,585 people in California and 77,380 across the nation as of Saturday morning, according to the COVID Tracking Project and Johns Hopkins University.
Rules still in place
Health officials said the deaths underscore the need to continue with the partial shutdown of the economy to contain the virus. This means educating children at home, keeping at least 6 feet from non-household members, and washing hands and touched surfaces well.
Stanislaus County eased some of its rules as of Friday, May 8. This includes allowing curbside retail and dog-grooming and a few other things.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 8:10 PM.
