With the county now on the state’s coronavirus watch list thanks to the rising rate of positive cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he anticipates local health officials acting shortly to comply with recently enacted ordered, including the closure of indoor dining spaces.
The county was officially added to the state’s monitoring list — which now includes 23 counties across the state — over the weekend, primarily due to the region’s rising rate of cases per 100,000 residents.
Ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, Newsom ordered counties that have been on the list for at least three days to shutter indoor operations at businesses such as restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos, museums and cardrooms.
On Monday, Newsom noted the addition of San Diego and several other counties to the state’s monitoring list, and said he is awaiting an order from local health officials in each of those counties to issue an order enacting the measures, which are expected to remain in effect for at least three weeks.
Counties on the list were also ordered to close all of its bars, a move San Diego County had already taken ahead of the holiday weekend. The county issued a 10 p.m. curfew for restaurants.
San Diego County health officials reported 1,030 positive COVID-19 cases over the weekend, bringing the region’s total to 16,726.
There were no deaths reported Saturday or Sunday and the region’s total remains at 387, health officials said.
On Friday, 468 new cases were reported and another 562 were reported Saturday. On Saturday, 8,095 tests were reported and 7% were positive new cases. County health officials reported 7,321 tests on Friday, with 6% as positive new cases.
The county’s 14-day average of daily positive tests is 5.6%.
As of Saturday, cases requiring hospitalization totaled 1,899 and hospitalized cases admitted to an intensive care unit totaled 510.
Two new community outbreaks were reported Friday and one on Saturday. All three were restaurants.
In the past seven days, 22 community setting outbreaks were identified, according to the county. The number of new outbreaks is above the trigger of seven in seven days. A community setting is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and different households.
San Diego County was the final county in Southern California to be placed on the state’s monitoring list after it saw a steady rise in daily coronavirus cases.
County health officials said the rate of COVID-19 cases in the region surpassed the state’s threshold of no more than 100 positive cases per 100,000 residents. The county reported a rate of 112.8 positive cases per 100,000 residents Thursday, a number that increased from 103.8 per 100,000 just three days prior.
— City News Service