San Diego County public health officials on Monday reported 304 new cases of coronavirus but no new deaths as many businesses began reopening indoors.
Out of 5,731 test results received in the past day, 5.3% were positive, but the 14-day rolling average of positive tests remained at 3.7%.
Two new community outbreaks were reported — a business and a restaurant — for a total of 16 in the past week.
Under California’s new monitoring system, the county reported 5.8 new cases per 100,000 population and a 3.8% positive test rate over seven days. This puts San Diego County in the second, or “substantial” infection tier. It’s the only large urban county where the virus is not “widespread.”
As many businesses began to reopen indoor operations Monday, officials cautioned that the pandemic isn’t over by any means and urged continued compliance with health orders.
“This new state guideline is not a green light, It’s a yellow light,” said Supervisor Greg Cox. “Let’s not blow this opportunity.”
While restaurants can now open indoors at 25% capacity, the county requires diners to wear face masks at all times except when eating or drinking. Officials urged only family groups to take advantage of indoor dining.
All businesses will now be required to keep sign-up sheets for customers’ names and phone numbers to facilitate contact tracing if there is an outbreak.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said officials hope to avoid a spike in cases similar to what occurred after businesses first reopened in mid June.
“This is a new approach, a gradual approach, and we hope our businesses can hang in there,” said Wooten. “If people do not do what we are asking them to do, we will find ourselves in the very same situation that we did in mid July.”
Since the first local case in March, there have been 830,640 tests performed in San Diego County, resulting 38,604 cases and 682 deaths.
