Lab technician labels COVID-19 test swabs
A lab technician labels COVID-19 test swabs before processing. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency reported 1,700 new COVID-19 cases Friday, the most cases in a single day in the county since late January.

Along with the new infections, 31 additional people were hospitalized and two more sent to intensive care units. The cumulative number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began is now 312,294. No new deaths were reported in Friday’s data, that number remains 3,821.

A total of 20,236 tests were reported Friday, and the percentage of new positive cases over the past week is 8.3%.

The county’s case rate in Wednesday’s weekly data per 100,000 residents was 21.5 overall. But people who are not fully vaccinated are seeing case rates nine times those who are — 41.1 to 4.5 per 100,000 residents, respectively, data show.

The rate of hospitalization for the unvaccinated is about 51 times higher than those fully vaccinated — 1.01 average daily hospitalizations compared to .02, according to the data.

Due to increased demand in response to a striking surge in COVID-19 cases, the county opened several new testing sites this week, health officials said.

For a complete list of COVID-19 testing locations, go to coronavirus-sd.com/testing.

City News Service contributed to this report.