Coronavirus update Nov. 22: Stanislaus soars past 20,000 positive tests
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
Stanislaus County on Saturday surpassed 20,000 positive case results, reporting 180 new cases for a cumulative total of 20,144 since the pandemic began. The death toll remained at 416. A total of 18,471 people are presumed to have recovered.
The state, whose numbers are roughly a day behind the county’s, reported 153 positive tests in Stanislaus, up from 127 the previous day. The numbers should average 40 or less to make progress on reopening the local economy.
The county’s five hospitals had 133 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, up from 124 on Thursday. The figure had spiked to about 220 in summer but hovered around 40 in early fall. Seven intensive care beds for adults were available Saturday, down from eight.
The county did not update its demographic breakdowns of the positive tests. The figures as of Wednesday:
- 54% are female
- 46% male
- 8% are 14 years or younger
- 16% are ages 15 to 24
- 20% are 25 to 34,
- 18% are 35 to 44,
- 15% are 45 to 54
- 12% are 55 to 64
- 6% are 65 to 74
- 3% are 75 to 84,
- 2% are 85 or older.
- Though they make up 47 percent of the population, Latinos represented 64 percent of the positive cases.
Geographically:
- Modesto has 7,322 positive cases
- Turlock has 2,795
- Ceres has 2,395
- Patterson has 1,033
- Riverbank has 969
- Oakdale has 500
- Newman has 397
- Waterford has 295
- Hughson has 206
- Supervisorial District 5 has 1,244
- District 3 has 1,106
- District 2 has 931
- District 1 has 439
- District 4 has 154
In other nearby counties as of Friday:
- San Joaquin County has 504 COVID-19-related deaths among 24,649 cases.
- Merced County has 176 deaths among 10,986 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 708 cases and eight deaths.
- Mariposa County has 94 cases and two deaths.
As of Sunday morning, there were 1,106,578 confirmed cases in California and 18,710 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 12,094,789 U.S. cases and 259,9095 deaths.
How to stay safe on Thanksgiving
With small gatherings of friends and families fueling the autumn surge, public health officials have strongly encouraged everyone to rethink, and ideally avoid, large gatherings for Thanksgiving. Local leaders are planning big changes to how they are celebrating this year.
Black Friday will look different this year
Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, will look a lot different in 2020 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Most major retailers will stay closed on Thanksgiving Day, bucking years of trends that saw scores of people rush to finish or delay their family dinners in order to shop sales on the holiday day itself.
Dining goes outside once again
Stanislaus County restaurants are going through a horrifying “Groundhog Day” of a year. Opened inside at the start of the year, closed inside in March, opened inside in May, closed inside in July, opened inside in October and now closed inside once more in November.
How Stanislaus will enforce new rules
Stanislaus County’s approach to enforcing the state’s coronavirus orders won’t change as local communities learn to live under tighter restrictions imposed by the state, the county’s chief executive said.
Flora defends Hawaii trip
Assemblyman Heath Flora, R-Ripon, had no apology for attending a four-day conference in Hawaii as COVID-19 cases are spiking in California and the rest of the nation.
Around the state, nation and world
Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Trump, has tested positive for COVID-19. A spokesman for Trump Jr. said Friday that he tested positive at the beginning of the week and began quarantining.
Turns out if you have a full set of teeth and a congested nose, you may be on track to being a coronavirus superspreader, one study suggests. Researchers from the University of Central Florida used 3D modeling and computer simulations to experiment how far sneeze droplets travel in people with different physiological features, such as nasal flow and teeth structure.
A person is the most contagious during the first five days of their coronavirus infection, a new study says, highlighting the importance of immediate self-isolation after potential exposure.This is because the amount of virus, or viral load, peaks right when symptoms begin.
Russia’s health care system, vast yet underfunded, has been under significant strains in recent weeks, as the pandemic surges again and daily infections and virus death regularly break records.
This story was originally published November 22, 2020 at 6:40 AM.
