COVID-19 Cases Hit 2-Month Low In San Diego County

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — For the first time since Nov. 30, fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported on a single day in San Diego County — with public health officials logging 926 newly confirmed infections and 10 new virus-related deaths.

The county's cumulative caseload rose to 240,050 and the death toll to 2,629 amid signs that the post-holiday case surge is waning.

Of the 9,955 tests reported Tuesday, 9% returned positive, decreasing the 14-day average percentage of positive cases from 8.5% Monday to 8%. As recently as Jan. 13, that average was above 13%.

Although the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency reported 38 new hospital admissions on Tuesday, hospitalizations overall continue to decline.

County health officials said 1,297 people were being treated for the virus in area hospitals as of Tuesday — with 384 of those in intensive care units, down eight from Monday.

The record for COVID-19 hospitalizations — 1,804 — was set Jan. 12 and has declined since.

The record for ICU hospitalizations of coronavirus patients — 438 — was set on Jan. 20, and has also declined slowly since with the exception of a 12-patient bump on Monday.

The county's adjusted case rate as of Tuesday is 42.5 new cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days. That's a drop of 7.1 per 100,000 over the past week. To be dropped into the more permissive red tier of the state's four-level reopening plan, cases have to be fewer than seven per 100,000.

Four new community outbreaks were reported Tuesday. There have been 57 outbreaks reported in the past week tied to 336 infections.

The county has received more than 525,600 vaccines, and more than 343,400 have been administered. Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said there is a normal lag in reporting the numbers, but 2% of the county's population over the age of 16 has been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, and demand remains high.

San Diego County's fourth vaccination super station opened Tuesday at the Grossmont Center shopping mall in La Mesa, while a smaller distribution site opened in San Ysidro on the Southwestern College campus.

The Grossmont Center location replaces the site Sharp HealthCare that had been operating on Wakarusa Street. Appointments made for that site were transferred to the super station at the mall.

UC San Diego Health announced Tuesday it will open another vaccination super station on its campus for qualifying UCSD Health patients, faculty and staff. The vaccination site will begin operating next Monday inside the UCSD's Recreation, Intramural and Athletic Complex.

Once fully operational, the RIMAC site is projected to provide up to 5,000 vaccinations daily, operating seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Vaccinations will be administered by invitation only through the MyUCSDChart application and an online appointment scheduling process.

San Diego County's other vaccination super stations are open at Petco Park, the former Sears store in Chula Vista and California State University San Marcos. Many other smaller county clinics are also vaccinating people throughout the region.

Vaccination appointments can be made at www.vaccinationsuperstationsd.com. The site also includes a map of where vaccines are being distributed.

— City News Service