San Diego County health officials said Friday that two more local residents have died from coronavirus disease as the number of cases grew by 76 to 417.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said the latest victims were a man in his mid 50s and another man in his early 80s.
She said that in addition a 25-year-old man from San Diego who died in Riverside County was later found by autopsy to have had COVID-19.
“I would like to express my sincerest condolences to all of the families and friends of the individuals who we have reported have died,” said Wooten during the county’s regular afternoon briefing on the pandemic. “The information shared today provides evidence that COVID-19 affects everyone at all ages.”
After the briefing, the county reported that cases grew by 76 to 417 between Thursday and Friday. Of those, 38 have required hospitalization in intensive care units.
“Our numbers are rising, but they are not yet to the level of other areas. We’re only 19 days into this in San Diego County and have yet to hit that exponential surge,” said Supervisor Greg Cox. “Don’t let that lull you into complacency. We are still at the beginning stages of the crisis.”
So far six San Diego County residents have died from the disease, four here and two elsewhere in California.
In addition to these five, an 86-year-old man who was a passenger on the Grand Princess cruise ship and quarantined at Miramar died at a local hospital Friday.
Updated at 6:15 p.m., Friday, March 27, 2020
