Coronavirus

Coronavirus update, Feb. 15: Deaths hold at 899 but fewer Stanislaus ICU beds available

No further deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Stanislaus County on Sunday, and the case counts continue to drop. But ICU bed availability also dropped.

A total of 899 people in Stanislaus County have died of COVID-19. The county Health Services Agency on Sunday reported 100 positive tests, for a total of 48,842 Stanislaus also has 425,347 negative test results and 45,991 people who are presumed recovered.

The single-day positive rate was 6.47%, down from the previous day’s 10.19%, according to state data. The seven-day rolling rate was 8.4%, down from 9.64%. The 14-day rate was 10.02%, down from 10.32%.

The county’s five hospitals reported 161 patients with confirmed coronavirus cases Sunday, down from 163 on Saturday. The count has stayed under 200 for a week and is well below the 300-plus of early January. The number of staffed adult ICU beds was at 4, down from 7.

A long-term projection of easing ICU capacity prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 25 to lift the stay-home order in the 12-county San Joaquin Valley Region. Stanislaus remains in the purple tier, the most restrictive for business and gatherings.

Here is the Stanislaus County vaccination schedule for the week of Feb. 14:

  • Modesto: Second doses only Monday and Friday, first and second doses Thursday. Both clinics are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Modesto Centre Plaza.

  • Turlock: First and second doses Wednesday, Second doses only Thursday. Both clinics are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Geer Road entrance to Stanislaus State University.

  • Oakdale: First dose only Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Gladys Lemmons Community Center
  • Patterson has no clinics scheduled.

As of Sunday, 55,550 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Stanislaus County. This includes 26,625 doses to health care providers and 28,925 to public health. The numbers do not include federal allocations to staff and residents at nursing care facilities and some provided directly to hospital systems.

Information regarding vaccinations in Stanislaus County is on the county dashboard at http://schsa.org/coronavirus/vaccine/.

California has administered 5,820,388 vaccines as of Sunday, up from 5,562,553 on Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker. The state ranks 33rd in the country, having administered 14,731 doses per 100,000 residents. Alaska ranks first, Alabama 50th among the states.

Here are the demographic breakdowns of the positive tests in Stanislaus County as of Friday:

  • 53.5% are female
  • 46.5% male
  • 8.1% are 14 years or younger
  • 16.4% are ages 15 to 24
  • 19.4% are 25 to 34
  • 17.3% are 35 to 44
  • 14.9% are 45 to 54
  • 12% are 55 to 64
  • 6.6% are 65 to 74
  • 3.4% are 75 to 84
  • 1.9% are 85 or older.
  • Though they make up 47 percent of the population, Latinos represented 63.7 percent of the positive cases.

Geographically:

  • Modesto has 17,842 positive cases
  • Turlock has 6,548
  • Ceres has 5,004
  • Patterson has 2,364
  • Riverbank has 2,234
  • Oakdale has 1,533
  • Newman has 1,095
  • Waterford has 569
  • Hughson has 530
  • Supervisorial District 3 has 2,507
  • District 5 has 2,317
  • District 2 has 2,039
  • District 1 has 1,140
  • District 4 has 359

As of Monday morning, there were 3,485,841 confirmed cases in California and 47,057 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 27,641,151 U.S. cases and 485,337 deaths.

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Stanislaus County middle, high schools aim for March reopening

A meeting of superintendents for school districts across Stanislaus County on Friday included a discussion of a timeline to reopen middle and high schools by the middle of March.

“March 15 is clearly a target, and I’m hopeful and really encouraged with cases going down so quickly,” said Sara Noguchi, superintendent of Modesto City School District, after participating in the meeting.

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Catholic churches welcome ruling

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Biz Beat: More restaurants fall to pandemic

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Sutter Gould ramps up vaccines in Modesto

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Editorial: Not so fast on club football

Student-athletes, parents, coaches and school administrators lured by the glitter of Friday night lights in February should make certain they know what they’re getting into before Friday’s launch of club football for some teen teams.

From around the state, nation and world

The Northridge Hospital Medical Center violated Los Angeles County rules when it provided coronavirus vaccines to teachers and staff at the Wesley School in North Hollywood, county officials said this week.

White Californians so far have received 32.7% of the first available doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 16% for Latinos, 13% for Asians, 2.9% for Black people and 0.3% for Native populations, according to a new state report that provides a snapshot of vaccine distribution.

Physician groups say they are “deeply troubled” that the Pennsylvania Department of Health plans to remove primary care providers from the list of those permitted to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 6:41 AM.

Patty Guerra
The Modesto Bee
Patty Guerra is managing editor at The Modesto Bee. She has held several writing and editing roles since starting at The Bee in 1999. She’s a graduate of Fresno State.
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