Coronavirus update, April 1: Stanislaus reaches 1,000 deaths. It’s way more than flu
Stanislaus County reached 1,000 deaths to COVID-19 on Wednesday, 355 days after the first was reported.
The county Health Services Agency said three more residents have died of the virus. The first ever reported was on April 10, 2020, about a month after the county’s first positive case.
Back then, health officials said the death toll could stay low if residents kept their distance, wore masks in public, and took other steps. And they refuted claims, spread by social media and other means, that COVID-19 was no worse than the common flu.
Each year from 2014 to 2018, an average of 89 county residents died of influenza or pneumonia, which are grouped together in the HSA statistics. It was the 10th leading cause of death over those years.
Heart disease led the way with 1,207 annual deaths on average. Cancer followed at 895, and Alzheimer’s disease was third at 265.
Stanislaus took until July 19 of last year to reach 100 deaths to COVID-19. A mid-summer surge raised the total past 200 on Aug. 8 and 300 on Aug. 28. The 400th death was reported on Oct. 22 and the 500th on Dec. 8.
An even worse surge in winter brought the figure past 600 on Dec. 21, past 700 on Jan. 3, and past 800 on Jan. 18. Stanislaus surpassed 900 deaths on Feb. 4.
Men made up 60.1% of the 1,000 deaths to COVID-19, women 39.9%. The racial/ethnic breakdown: 44.2% were white, 39.3% were Latino, 2.9% were Asian, 2% were Black, and the rest were in other categories.
The age breakdown:
- Fewer than six people were under 24 (privacy laws do not allow a specific figure)
- 4% were 25 to 44
- 7% were 45 to 54
- 13% were 55 to 64
- 24% were 65 to 74
- 28% were 75 to 84
- 24% were 85 or older
The 1,000th death came as Stanislaus is making progress on reopening businesses, schools and other sectors. But it still is in the state’s red tier, the third most restrictive in the four-tier system.
Other details from Wednesday:
Positive tests: The 77 new cases brought the total to 52,621. Stanislaus also has 508,868 negative test results and 51,130 people who are presumed recovered.
Positive rates: On the state dashboard Wednesday, where numbers reflect the previous day, the county showed a single-day positivity rate of 6.47%, up from 3.47% a day earlier. Its seven-day rate was 5.16%, up from 5.08%. The 14-day rate was 6.68%, down from 6.73%.
According to the Los Angeles Times daily tracker showed, the county is 13th among the 58 counties when it comes to new cases over the past seven days. It ranks 11th in deaths over the past seven days.
Hospital cases: The county’s five hospitals had 99 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 91 on Tuesday. It was the highest count since March 17. Staffed intensive care beds available to adults remained at 12.
Vaccines: As of Wednesday, 176,870 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Stanislaus County, unchanged since March 26. This includes 85,429 doses to health care providers and 91,441 to public health.
Here is the county vaccination schedule for the week of March 28 to April 3 (they are also available at some stores and health-care providers):
- Thursday, Modesto: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Modesto Centre Plaza, 1000 L St. First and second doses of Pfizer.
- Friday, Patterson: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Hammon Senior Center, 1033 W. Las Palmas Ave. First and second doses of Moderna.
- Friday, Oakdale: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Gladys Lemmons Senior Center, 450 East A St. First and second doses of Moderna.
- Saturday, Turlock: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Geer Road entrance to Stanislaus State University. First and second doses of Pfizer.
More information is on the county dashboard at http://schsa.org/coronavirus/vaccine/.
California has administered 18,223,412 vaccines as of Wednesday, up from 17,922,091 on Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker. The state ranks 29th in the country, having administered 46,121 doses per 100,000 residents. New Mexico ranks first, Alabama 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 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:
- 53.6% are female
- 46.4% male
- 8.4% are 14 years or younger
- 16.4% are ages 15 to 24
- 19.3% are 25 to 34
- 17.2% are 35 to 44
- 14.8% are 45 to 54
- 12.1% 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 19,612 positive cases
- Turlock has 7,120
- Ceres has 5,356
- Patterson has 2,523
- Riverbank has 2,452
- Oakdale has 1,757
- Newman has 1,165
- Waterford has 633
- Hughson has 577
- Supervisorial District 3 has 2,765
- District 5 has 2,513
- District 2 has 2,193
- District 1 has 1,248
- District 4 has 415
Here’s a look at the numbers from nearby counties through Wednesday:
- San Joaquin County has 1,301 COVID-19-related deaths among 69,846 cases.
- Merced County has 436 deaths among 30,593 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 4,036 cases and 62 deaths.
- Mariposa County has 410 cases and seven deaths.
As of Thursday morning, there were 3,668,745 confirmed cases in California and 59,274 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 30,460,066 U.S. cases and 552,073 deaths.
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