Coronavirus update, Dec. 20: Deaths, infections continue to mount in Stanislaus County
Latest facts on COVID-19 in Modesto area
The death toll in Stanislaus County continued to rise as the Health Services Agency reported another eight coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday.
The total since the start of the pandemic now sits at 517, with 102 more – or roughly 20% of all fatalities – announced in the last month.
The news came on the same day the county reported 493 more cases, and state data showed for the fourth straight day a rolling seven-day total of more than 3,000 positive test results.
The county is mirroring what’s being seen around the state and country, as the percentage of available staffed adult intensive care unit beds in the 12-county San Joaquin Valley Region remained at 0%. Southern California also was a 0%.
The number of COVID-confirmed patients in the county’s five hospitals fell to 349 on Saturday from 352 on Friday. The number of available staffed adult intensive care unit beds in the county showed a minimum of six to a maximum of 24, according to the dashboard.
The total positive tests now stand at 29,533. Another 275,080 residents have tested negative and 25,040 are presumed recovered.
The rolling 14-day positivity rate was 14.9%, down from 15.25% the previous day. The seven-day rate was 15.3%, up from 14.9%.
The demographic breakdowns of the positive tests as of Saturday:
- 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 10,633 positive cases
- Turlock has 4,034
- Ceres has 3,132
- Patterson has 1,441
- Riverbank has 1,337
- Oakdale has 866
- Newman has 633
- Waterford has 331
- Hughson has 273
- Supervisorial District 3 has 1,536
- District 5 has 1,501
- District 2 has 1,249
- District 1 has 676
- District 4 has 193
- San Joaquin County has 561 COVID-19-related deaths among 36,428 cases.
- Merced County has 216 deaths among 16,026 cases
- Tuolumne County has 2,119 cases and 19 deaths.
- Mariposa County has 188 cases and four deaths.
As of Sunday morning, there were 1,845,018 confirmed cases in California and 22,599 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 17,659,719 U.S. cases and 316,202 deaths.
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Our ICUs are filling up. 750,000 Californians are about to lose their only source of income as federal unemployment benefits dry up. My colleagues in Congress need to put their political games aside and get a COVID relief deal done.
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From around the state, nation and world
California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers.
More than 17 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday, Dec. 19, according to Johns Hopkins University. That includes more than 314,000 people who have died nationwide.
First, Theresa Pirozzi’s 85-year-old dad got sick and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Days later, her mom was so weak she could barely walk. Now, instead of getting ready for Christmas, Pirozzi is anxiously awaiting updates from the hospital where both of her parents are in intensive care with the coronavirus.
This story was originally published December 20, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
