San Diego County public health officials on Thursday reported a third straight day of low COVID-19 case numbers, and said the county could be taken off the California “watch list” on Friday.
If that happens, K-12 schools could potentially reopen as early as Aug. 28, but the closure of indoor operations of restaurants, gyms, salons and other businesses would continue under current state orders.
The county Health and Human Services Agency reported 8,020 tests in the past day, resulting in 266 cases, for a positive rate of 3.3%. The 14-day rolling average of positive tests ticked down to 4.6%.
There were seven new deaths reported, bringing the total to 615.
“We had a significant increase in cases, actions were taken, and the number of cases came down,” said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who cautioned at a press briefing that “we are in the middle of a marathon.”
The number of new cases over the past week per 100,000 population stood at 98.3, under the state threshold of 100 for the second day in a row.
Fletcher said that if the number of new cases remains below that threshold on Friday, the county “could potentially come off tomorrow.” But he cautioned that San Diegans should not abruptly change their actions in response to COVID-19.
“We want to avoid the seesaw of up-and-down, opened-and-closed,” he said.
The county reported two new community outbreaks for a total of 22 in the past week. That’s the only pandemic indicator that currently remains above the allowable level, which is seven.
Since the first case was reported in March, a total of 698,881 tests have been performed in San Diego County, resulting in 33,659 cases.
