The number of people hospitalized with a coronavirus infection in San Diego County has increased to 186, according to the latest state numbers.
Of those patients hospitalized as of Friday, 27 were being treated in intensive care.
Some of the patients entered the hospital for other reasons and discovered they had the coronavirus after a required test.
Local health officials continue to urge caution as winter approaches and three highly communicable respiratory viruses remain present in the community. In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the county is seeing an early spike of flu and respiratory syncytial virus cases.
County health officials have announced a collaboration with regional medical providers to support their response to the recent influx in illnesses.
“Health care providers are experiencing the effects of these viruses right now in regional medical centers and clinics across our bi-national region,” UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said. “UC San Diego Health was an early leader nationally in COVID response due to its medical expertise and innovative partnerships with researchers, business and community leaders and government agencies.
“Leveraging the valuable lessons learned from the pandemic, I am confident San Diego will continue to be a model city for public health response through cooperation, transparency and the willingness to share resources,” he said.
The HHSA urged San Diegans to get vaccinated now, as both the flu and COVID vaccine take two weeks to become fully effective.
–City News Service