Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said Wednesday that San Diego County is “living on the edge” of new restrictions as it narrowly remains in the substantial, or red, tier in state rankings.
Fletcher’s comments came as he opened a press conference to report 303 new coronavirus cases and four more deaths from the pandemic disease.
Out of 10,472 test results received in the past day, 2.9% were positive, and the 14-day rolling average of positive results ticked up to 3.0%.
“We are living on the edge of the precipice of going into that higher tier every single week,” said Fletcher. “And that causes great anxiety among our community, our small businesses, our team here.”
Fletcher credited robust testing, with over 60 locations now throughout the county, with keeping the county in the red tier. A high testing rate reduces the officially reported number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.
He said San Diego County is not alone in struggling to keep the number of cases down, noting that Riverside County is on the edge to entering the widespread, or purple, tier and rural Shasta County has moved from yellow to red.
Four new community outbreaks — two at businesses and two at restaurants or bars — were reported on Wednesday for a total of 47 over the past week.
Health officials also reported an outbreak at Point Loma Nazarene University with a total of 16 cases. Students living in three residence halls were told to shelter in place to avoid infection.
Since the first local case in March, there have been 1,247,324 tests administered in San Diego County, resulting in 51,327 cases and 844 deaths.
