Coronavirus Cases In San Diego: 39 More Die, 2,598 New Cases
SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diego County public health officials reported 39 new deaths and 2,598 new COVID-19 infections Wednesday. It was the 16th day overall with more than 2,000 new cases.
The county's cumulative cases increased to 134,696 infected residents.
The county's death toll is now 1,311: 16 men and 12 women died between Dec. 9 and Dec. 21, and their ages ranged from the early 50s to mid-90s. All but one had underlying medical conditions.
In San Diego County, 5,492 residents are currently hospitalized. Of those, 1,155 are currently admitted into the intensive care units.
With intensive-care unit capacity still officially considered to be zero across the 11-county Southern California region, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the regional stay-at-home order imposed by the state for the entirety of Southern California will almost assuredly be extended beyond next week's expiration date.
Current stay-at-home orders took effect at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6, and were originally set to end on Dec. 28. Newsom did not give an indication of exactly when a decision on extending the orders will be made, or much long the orders will remain in place.
UC San Diego Health received its first shipment of 5,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday. This shipment follows receipt on Dec. 15 of the first 2,925 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
"With two vaccines in hand, we can redouble our efforts to provide protection from infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Patty Maysent, CEO of UCSD Health. "These are still early days, however. We must continue to mask, distance, wash our hands and follow all public health measures until everyone has been offered the chance to vaccinate and we have gained significant immunity. That day will come. This day is a big step toward it."
The new batches of vaccines will join the 28,275 Pfizer doses that arrived last week in the region, with first priority going to civilian acute health care workers. San Diego County is home to 82,623 people working in hospital or psychiatric facilities, and 39,755 of them are considered "highest risk" and will first receive vaccines.
An undisclosed number of vaccines for military personnel arrived at Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton last week as well.
Of 24,031 tests reported Tuesday in San Diego County, 10% returned positive, raising the 14-day average to 9.7%.
Five new community outbreaks were confirmed Tuesday: two in business settings, one in a daycare/preschool/childcare setting, one in a TK-12 school setting, and one in a government setting. In the past seven days, 39 community outbreaks were confirmed.
A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households over the past 14 days.
The most recent by city cumulative case count in San Diego County is as follows:
SAN DIEGO - 50,681 cases
CHULA VISTA - 15,421 cases
Other - 6,925 cases
ESCONDIDO - 6,660 cases
EL CAJON - 6,265 cases
OCEANSIDE - 5,511 cases
VISTA - 4,411 cases
NATIONAL CITY - 3,734 cases
Spring Valley - 3,637 cases
SAN MARCOS - 3,276 cases
CARLSBAD - 2,119 cases
LA MESA - 1,885 cases
SANTEE - 1,604 cases
Fallbrook - 1,545 cases
IMPERIAL BEACH - 1,434 cases
LEMON GROVE - 1,324 cases
Lakeside - 1,278 cases
ENCINITAS - 1,218 cases
Ramona - 1,176 cases
POWAY - 961 cases
Alpine - 630 cases
Valley Center - 560 cases
Bonita - 501 cases
CORONADO - 432 cases
Jamul - 317 cases
SOLANA BEACH - 214 cases
Rancho Santa Fe - 184 cases
Bonsall - 142 cases
Pala - 140 cases
Tecate - 139 cases
Potrero - 132 cases
Dulzura - 132 cases
Campo - 123 cases
Pauma Valley - 93 cases
DEL MAR - 87 cases
Borrego Springs - 73 cases
Pine Valley - 45 cases
Descanso - 44 cases
Julian - 44 cases
Warner Springs - 30 cases
Boulevard - 25 cases
Santa Ysabel - 24 cases
Jacumba - 22 cases
Guatay - 9 cases
Ranchita - 8 cases
Palomar Mountain - 2 cases
City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on the San Diego Patch