San Diego County public health officials reported 343 new cases of coronavirus but no new deaths Monday while citing “very encouraging” recent trends.
Out of 6,536 test results received in the past day, 5.2% were positive, and the 14-day rolling average of positive tests ticked down to 5.3%.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said trends in new cases and hospitalizations were moving in the right direction after a “bit of a roller coaster” in July.
“At the beginning of August, the numbers have been very encouraging,” said Fletcher at a media briefing. “Our number of cases continues to come down. Our percentage of positives continues to come down. Our hospital system capacity remains very stable.”
He said he believes the San Diego community is adapting to the recent surge, with face coverings more common in public.
“Broader awareness of the continuing dangers of COVID has put us in a better situation,” said. “As a community, we are adapting.”
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said three indicators of the pandemic currently exceed allowable levels, but two are trending in the right direction.
The three indicators are the number of recent community outbreaks at 39, the number of new cases per 100,000 residents at 118.2, and the percentage of new cases that are investigated within 24 hours at 48%. While community outbreaks have been increasing in recent days, the other two indicators have been improving
Fletcher noted the progress in case investigations, which had recently declined to just 9% in 24 hours. The county hired hundreds more workers to speed up case investigations. “We had a problem; we took corrective action,” he said.
The number of new cases has fallen steadily and could soon drop below the threshold of 100 per 100,000 population that puts a county on the state watch list. “Since last week, the case rate continues to decrease and is moving in the right downward direction below 100,” said Wooten.
Since the first local case in March, there have been 620,819 tests conducted in San Diego County, resulting in 30,226 cases and 565 deaths.
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