San Diego County public heath officials on Friday reported the largest daily increase in coronavirus cases to date after receiving results from a record number of tests.
The Health and Human Services Agency reported 240 new cases and six more deaths at a county media briefing.
The latest results were based on a record 5,936 tests — well above the daily average of just over 4,000 — because of delayed reporting from one location.
“We had a kind of dump of results that represented a couple of days,” said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. “It’s really important to put the number of positive tests in the context of the total tests that were done.”
He said 4% of the tests were positive, which is “a little bit higher than our 14-day rolling average, but not presently a cause for alarm.”
The latest victims of the pandemic disease ranged in age from 46 to 94.
Since the first local case in March, the county has tallied 182,323 tests, resulting in 8,180 cases and 294 deaths.
At the media briefing, Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, urged those taking part in the recent protests against police brutality to get tested for possible exposure to coronavirus.
“As the health officer, I am urging testing for all protesters and anyone involved in the cleanup,” she said.
She added that it could take 12 to 14 days before symptoms of the disease appear.