Of 5,620 COVID-19 Deaths In RivCo, 112 Were Fully Vaccinated

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — New data released Thursday by Riverside County health officials offer more insight into who is getting sick with COVID-19.

"Unvaccinated people make up about 90 percent of our COVID hospitalizations, and most COVID deaths are occurring in unvaccinated patients," Riverside University Health System spokesperson Jose Arballo summarized Thursday.

The RUHS report breaks down cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by region, age, and vaccination status for 2021.

For example, a total of 5,620 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Riverside County since the pandemic began.

"Just 112 people who died of COVID-19 in 2021 were fully vaccinated," Arballo pointed out from the report. He clarified that fully vaccinated means they received at least two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The report also shows that nearly all COVID cases among Riverside County adolescents were unvaccinated. Between July and December, 132 kids under 18 years old were hospitalized with the virus, according to the report.

The report's end date is Dec. 26, so it doesn't capture the current surge. The number of COVID-positive patients in Riverside County hospitals has spiked. On Thursday, 772 people were hospitalized with the virus, an increase of 59 people since Wednesday, according to state figures.

Some COVID-positive patients in local hospitals likely didn't know they were infected until they checked in to get treatment for some other ailment. State figures do not provide the breakdown.

Regardless, COVID-positive patients do put a strain on the health care system, according to Arballo. The patients require resource-intensive transmission-based precautions, including isolation rooms, cohorted staff and personal protective equipment, all of which put a high burden on hospitals that are already short on staff.

The current number of COVID-19 hospitalizations countywide is now on par with the summer surge. The county is at about the halfway mark compared to a year ago when COVID hospital admissions were at a peak.

COVID hospitalizations are expected to rise in the coming days and weeks given the ongoing spread. The daily case rate has quadrupled in the last two weeks.

"That's astounding," Arballo said.

A total of 1,880 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, bringing the cumulative total to 410,526 since the pandemic began.

It's still unknown how prevalent the omicron variant is in Riverside County, but indicators — rapid spread, breakthrough infections — suggest it is driving the surge in new infections. Riverside County only checks a small sample of positive test results for variant strains.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged people to get fully vaccinated with a booster shot to protect against the highly contagious variant.

As of Thursday, RUHS data show that 58.6 percent of county residents ages 5 and older are fully vaccinated, while 23.4 percent of people 16 and older have received a booster.

For more information on vaccination, visit https://myturn.ca.gov/

This article originally appeared on the Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch