600 cases in one day. Stanislaus County grapples with the COVID-19 omicron variant
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Stanislaus County posted soaring case numbers in an update Thursday as the region was slammed by another surge of COVID-19. Health officials hope that this wave, driven by the omicron variant, won’t be as deadly as previous surges.
The update on the county dashboard showed 601 new cases, which followed a 430 single-day case increase Wednesday.
County staff said the 600-plus coronavirus cases was a one-day total. The county’s 7-day average case rate, another indicator of rapid spread, climbed to 47.2 per 100,000 population. The case rate has risen from 19.47 per 100,000 on Dec. 31.
Five additional deaths were recorded in Thursday’s county update.
COVID hospitalizations rose to 126 in the county, four more than the previous day. Those hospital admissions are up 50 percent since the surge began in late December.
Over the past three weeks, the county’s positive test rate has quadrupled to 14 percent.
COVID-19 cases in the United States have tripled in the past two weeks and resulted in a record average of 480,000 new cases per day, according to the Associated Press.
Medical experts from England to the United States have said the omicron variant seems to cause less severe illness and fewer hospitalizations. But the highly contagious nature of omicron threatens to infect a larger portion of the private and public workforce and cause disruptions for schools, transportation and other services.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University posted a data analysis concluding the risk of serious COVID illness requiring hospitalization was about half as the omicron variant was taking hold compared to the previous delta surge. The study released Jan. 2 has not undergone peer review.
The California Department of Public Health released the latest statewide data Thursday showing a daily average of 36,282 new coronavirus cases or 107 cases per 100,000 population. The state’s COVID case numbers this week are 6 1/2 times higher than in mid-December.
Test positivity statewide is 21.4 percent compared to 2.3 percent Dec. 15.
COVID-related hospitalizations in California climbed to 8,671 with 1,430 patients in intensive care units.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, with the omicron variant, infections are likely to occur in people who are vaccinated, but the coronavirus vaccines should protect people against severe illness and death. “The recent emergence of omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters,” the federal agency says.
The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency has information about COVID-19 testing sites and vaccinations at www.schsa.org.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 8:07 AM.
