Coronavirus update, Aug. 18: Stanislaus deaths at 200. Distance learning camp in Turlock
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
Stanislaus County announced Monday that 200 residents have died from COVID-19. And it offered a comparison to other causes of death.
The county Health Services Agency added two people to the 198 already lost to the pandemic. Details were not available on the latest deaths.
The virus continues to take a painful toll in a county that looked early on as if it might get through it OK. The first death was not reported until April 10, several weeks after similar counties. May and June were moderate compared with other areas.
July and August have been deadly. The county reported its 100th death on July 29, more than three months after the first. It took just 19 days to hit 200.
Some skeptics have suggested, in comments on Bee stories and elsewhere, that COVID-19 is no worse than seasonal influenza.
Health Educator Bobby Moser took that on in the semi-weekly Facebook video update for the county Office of Emergency Services.
He noted that COVID-19 already is prominent on the list, which is based on average annual deaths from 2014 to 2018.
Heart disease is No. 1, with an average of 1,027 deaths per year. COVID-19 is seventh, with 200 deaths in less than half a year. Influenza and pneumonia were listed together and totaled just 89.
“We can prevent COVID-19 from getting higher on this list,” Moser said.
Health officials remind residents of the mandate to wear face coverings when out in public. They also should keep at least 6 feet from people not in their household, and sanitize their hands and often-touches surfaces.
Moser provided rough details on the 198 people who had died before the late-afternoon update:
- Their ages range from 29 to 97
- 81% are 65 or older
- Three-quarters died in local hospitals
- Most had underlying medical conditions
As of Monday, 12,668 people have tested positive in the county, up 128 from Sunday. Another 64,608 have tested negative, and 11,342 are presumed recovered.
The one-day positivity rate of 15.59% was down from 28.57% the day before. The rolling seven-day average stood at 29.6%. The 14-day average was at 21.4%, more than three times the state average.
The 3,392 positive results over the last 14 days put the case rate per 100,00 residents at 607. That’s about triple the 200 the state wants to see before considering giving school districts a waiver for on-campus learning.
The county’s overall infection rate since March is 16.4%, the same as Sunday.
At the county’s five hospitals, only two of the 117 intensive care beds for adults were available Monday. The total number of hospitalized confirmed patients was 205, up from 200 the day before.
Most of the county’s detailed dashboard tied to state data remained offline, meaning no updates on age ranges and hometowns for the positive cases. It will be back online once the state rectifies it’s backlog of test results that have plagued its system for several weeks.
In other nearby counties:
- San Joaquin County has 269 COVID-19-related deaths among 15,008 cases.
- Merced County has 93 deaths among 7,041 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 165 cases and two deaths.
- Mariposa County has 64 cases and two deaths
As of Monday morning, there were 634,252 confirmed cases in California and 11,347 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 5,444,115 U.S. cases and 170,559 deaths.
Here is the state tracker.
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This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 5:29 AM.
