COVID-19 case numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction, and the county’s report of a record-setting 18 deaths yesterday reminds us we are still in the midst of a pandemic disease for which there is no vaccine and limited treatment options. So, 18 additional members of our regional community have lost their lives. They ranged in ages from 51 to 96 years and all had underlying medical conditions. I would like to offer my condolences to the families and loved one of all 505 people in our county who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 in the past four months. I understand you may not have known anyone who has passed away from COVID-19 complications, but this remains a serious disease, with research still being done to try to understand the complexities of this new contagious virus.
Those over 50 years of age have been hit hardest by COVID-19. While people in this demographic represent only 31% of the more than 25,000 cases, they account for nearly 96% of the deaths. COVID-19 has been most deadly for people 70 years and older. People in this age group represent 17% of the cases but 87% of the deaths.
Case data update
Since my last update on Tuesday, Carlsbad has 17 more cases for a new cumulative total of 412. We estimate 145 are active right now. San Diego County reported 587 new cases for July 21 – the third highest one-day total. To date, 25,107 positive cases have been reported in San Diego County.
It was also shared yesterday that the State of California now has the highest number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, at 413,576. While this is true, it’s important to note that the population of California is much larger than many other states, so this stat is not comparing apples to apples. Nevertheless, the state did report 12,807 new cases yesterday, the highest number reported in a single day.
Update on other triggers
Two new outbreaks have been confirmed since Tuesday. One in a business and one in a health care setting. In the past seven days, 12 community outbreaks were identified, still exceeding the trigger of seven.
The county continues to miss two other benchmarks, case investigations and number of cases per capita. Only 9% of case investigations were initiated within 24 hours of notification over a seven-day period. This is still far below the goal of 70%. The county hopes to improve this number with the addition of 97 more case investigators this week, and another 200 in the weeks ahead.
The state’s threshold of no more than 100 cases per every 100,000 residents is also in the red, currently at 154.8 in San Diego County.
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