The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency reported a record 440 new coronavirus cases on Friday, but number of community outbreaks fell below the “trigger” level for the first time in more than a week.
There were also six more deaths — four men and two women aged from their late 50s to mid 90s.
Of 6,824 tests reported to the county in the past day, 6.4% were positive, bumping the 14-day rolling average of positive tests up to 3.4%. That’s the highest in awhile, but less than the 5.7% average for California as a whole.
One new community outbreak was identified, but the number over the past seven days has dropped to six, which is below the trigger-level of seven at which further re-openings must pause. That trigger level was first exceeded more than a week ago.
However, another one of the 13 triggers was hit The average number of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection has increased by 19% in the last three days compared to the three days prior. The threshold is 10%. This means further re-opening remains on hold
Since the first local case in March, the county has administered 310,869 tests, resulting in 12,401 positive cases and 358 deaths.
Statewide on Friday the pandemic passed a milestone with 200,461 cases and 5,812 deaths.
Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that the rising numbers of cases and hospitalizations being seen now are going to translate into more fatalities in the coming weeks.
“Hospitalizations going up. The number of people in ICUs going up. The number of people on ventilators going up,” Newsom said at a press briefing. “We are in the midst of the first wave of this pandemic. We are not out of the first wave. This disease does not take a summer vacation.”
