Hospitals in Stanislaus County continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases, and they are taking new safeguards with visitors.

The county reported two more deaths Wednesday, for a total of 1,102. Positive tests rose by 140 to 61,228. Stanislaus also has 722,476 negative test results and 58,506 people who are presumed recovered.

The county’s five hospitals had 176 patients Wednesday, compared with 170 a day earlier, the Health Services Agency reported. The count had dipped to the 30s in mid-July and exceeded 300 during the worst of the winter surge.

Hospitals are requiring visitors to show proof of coronavirus vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result before entering their facilities. The hospitals are complying with a state public health order that also applies to nursing homes and intermediate care facilities to ensure a safe environment for patients, visitors and staff during the pandemic.

Visitors are expected to show a vaccine card as proof of full vaccination or results of a PCR or antigen test within 72 hours of the hospital visit. The state order allows limited exceptions such as seeing an end-of-life patient or guardians accompanying a minor who needs hospital care.

People are routinely given a vaccination card when getting their COVID shots. A copy of vaccination records can be obtained from the California Immunization Information System by phone, email or a form available online.

Information about free testing sites is available from the California Department of Public Health or the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency at www.schsa.org.

Other details:

Positivity rates: On the state dashboard Wednesday, where numbers reflect the previous day, the seven-day positivity rate increased to 12.1%, up from 11.2% from the day before and an increase of 1.2% from the prior seven days. The rolling seven-day rate a month ago was 4.2%.

Vaccines: As of Wednesday, 56.7% of all county residents had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 36.8% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The county vaccine clinic schedule through Aug. 15 (appointments are urged, but walk-ins are welcome while supplies last):

• Thursday, Aug. 12, Modesto: Public Health Immunization Clinic, 401 Paradise Road, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Pfizer (12+), Moderna (18+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Thursday, Aug. 12, Turlock: Crossroads Church, 1360 N. Johnson Road, 3-7 p.m., Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Thursday, Aug. 12, Patterson: Fire Station 2, 1950 Keystone Pacific Parkway, 2-7 p.m., Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Friday, Aug. 13, Modesto: Public Health Immunization Clinic, 401 Paradise Road, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Pfizer (12+), Moderna (18+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Saturday, Aug. 14, Modesto: Public Health Immunization Clinic, 401 Paradise Road, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Pfizer (12+), Moderna (18+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Saturday, Aug. 14, Salida: Salida Elementary School, 4519 Finney Road, 9-11 a.m., Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Saturday, Aug. 14, Modesto: Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I St., 10 a.m.-noon, Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Sunday, Aug. 15, Modesto: Holy Family Catholic Church, 4212 Dale Road, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

• Sunday, Aug. 15, Newman: St. Joachim Catholic Church, 1121 Main St., 10 a.m.-noon, Pfizer (12+) and Johnson & Johnson (18+)

For more clinic information, click here.

California has administered 46,089,472 vaccine doses as of Wednesday, according to the CDC tracker. The state ranks 13th in the country, with 116,646 doses per 100,000 residents. Vermont ranks first, Mississippi 50th among the states.

It’s important to note that if you’ve had part or full vaccination, wearing a mask and keeping with all the safety precautions like social distancing in some circumstances is still recommended by the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention. Also, those who have had COVID-19 still need to be vaccinated.

Case demographics: Here are the breakdowns of the positive tests in Stanislaus County as of Wednesday:

• 53.3% are female
• 46.7% male
• 9% are 14 years or younger
• 16.6% are ages 15 to 24
• 19.4% are 25 to 34
• 17.2% are 35 to 44
• 14.7% are 45 to 54
• 11.8% are 55 to 64
• 6.4% are 65 to 74
• 3.3% are 75 to 84
• 1.8% are 85 or older
• Latinos are 50.9% of the positive cases, whites are 29.1%, Asians are 4.4%, Blacks are 2.2%, and the rest are other groups.

Geographically (not updated this week):

• Modesto has 22,171 positive cases
• Turlock has 7,788
• Ceres has 6,000
• Patterson has 2,732
• Riverbank has 2,721
• Oakdale has 2,030
• Newman has 1,260
• Waterford has 727
• Hughson has 632
• Supervisorial District 3 has 3,088
• District 5 has 2,709
• District 2 has 2,413
• District 1 has 1,427
• District 4 has 475

Here’s a look at the numbers from nearby counties:

• San Joaquin County has 1,491 COVID-19-related deaths among 79,681 cases.
  
  
• Merced County has 488 deaths among 33,761 cases.
  
  
• Tuolumne County has 74 deaths among 4,945 cases.
• Mariposa County has seven deaths among 601 cases.

As of Thursday morning, there were 4,088,383 confirmed cases in California and 64,493deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 36,193,574 U.S. cases and 618,496 deaths.

This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 5:08 AM.

John Holland

The Modesto Bee

209-578-2385

John Holland covers agriculture, transportation and general assignment news. He has been with The Modesto Bee since 2000 and previously worked at newspapers in Sonora and Visalia. He was born and raised in San Francisco and has a journalism degree from UC Berkeley.