Coronavirus update, Dec. 5: Stanislaus adds 398 cases, most since August; 3 deaths
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
Stanislaus County reported 398 new cases of the virus Friday, the most since the 426 on Aug. 15. Three more residents have died, for a total of 436.
Hospital patient numbers declined overall for the first time in a week, but intensive-care capacity remains a concern.
The county Health Services Agency said 23,274 people have tested positive, 234,034 tested negative and 20,662 are presumed recovered.
The state reported a 12.88% positivity rate in Stanislaus on Thursday, based on 1,599 tests. That figure is released a day later than the county agency’s data. The rolling seven-day average was 13.36%. The 14-day average was 12.72%.
The state requires a positivity rate of under 8 percent to advance to the next less restrictive tier in its system. That means an average of 40 or fewer new cases a day in Stanislaus.
The state announced a regional stay-home order Thursday that will close certain businesses and ban social gatherings in regions where hospitals are struggling. The order will be implemented where intensive-care unit capacity falls below 15%.
In the San Joaquin Valley, which includes Stanislaus County, the ICU capacity in hospitals was 19.7% as of Thursday. The Sacramento area was at 22%, Northern California was at 18.6%, the Bay Area was at 25.4% and Southern California was at 20.6%, according to the California Department of Public Health.
State officials said Thursday that the Valley was on track to drop below 15% early this month.
According to Stanislaus County, the number of patients in its five hospitals dropped to 205 on Friday from 221 the day before. There are five available adult ICU beds, unchanged from Thursday, and three available neonatal ICU beds.
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The demographic breakdowns of the positive tests as of Friday:
- 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 8,337 positive cases
- Turlock has 3,163
- Ceres has 2,573
- Patterson has 1,165
- Riverbank has 1,047
- Oakdale has 598
- Newman has 454
- Waterford has 291
- Hughson has 220
- Supervisorial District 5 has 1,296
- District 3 has 1,205
- District 2 has 995
- District 1 has 513
- District 4 has 149
In other nearby counties:
- San Joaquin County has 522 COVID-19-related deaths among 27,469 cases.
- Merced County has 191 deaths among 12,891 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 1,190 cases and 12 deaths.
- Mariposa County has 149 cases and three deaths.
As of Saturday morning, there were 1,314,478 confirmed cases in California and 19,798 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 14,373,718 U.S. cases and 279,008 deaths.
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From around the state, nation and world
Foster Farms will shut down its facility on Cherry Street in Fresno following a coronavirus outbreak, according to company officials. Over the past two weeks, 193 workers at the 1,400-person facility tested positive.
Jumping ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest pandemic directive, five Bay Area counties announced Friday they would shut down much of their economies this weekend to try to stem a mushrooming wave of COVID-19 infections in California.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she’d be willing to support a smaller coronavirus relief package, citing President-elect Joe Biden’s win and COVID-19 vaccine progress.
