San Diego County public health officials urged residents to “hold the line” Thursday as they reported 75 new cases of coronavirus and three more deaths.
Fletcher said there have been a total of 2,087 positive cases found in 29,132 tests. He said the doubling rate of infection in the county is currently 18.4 days.
That’s much less than in many parts of the country, but Fletcher cautioned that the virus is just as dangerous now as it was in early March.
“Our message today is that we have to hold the line,” said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. “We should not allow where we are today to lull us into a false sense of complacency that we are through this. The virus has not changed.”
Fletcher cited the experience of the Asian city-state Singapore, which imposed early restrictions and then moved quickly to reopen society. Though its population is not much larger than San Diego County, it now has over 4,400 cases and the numbers are growing much more rapidly.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said the three residents who died in the past day were a women in her late 30s, a woman in her late 70s and a man in his early 50s. She said all of the patients had underlying medical conditions.
Wooten said the total number of deaths from coronavirus disease in the county now stands at 63, indicating a mortality rate of 3%.
A mortality rate of 3% means that for every 100 people who catch the virus, three will die.
Fletcher said he understands the desire to roll back the stay-at-home restrictions, but said, “You cannot rebuild an economy if you are in the middle of a pandemic that overwhelms our hospital system.”
