Death toll of virus increases to 14 as Yuba County resident in mid-30s dies

The local COVID-19 death count increased to 14 Wednesday, even as health officials noted a decline in new cases.

Bi-county Public Health Officer

Dr. Phuong Luu said she sees improvement as COVID-19 cases have begun to decline slightly in the past few days in the Yuba-sutter area.

According to Luu, case counts in Sutter County have decreased by 10 in the last week and have gone down even more in Yuba County, with a jump from 330 down to about 260 in the last seven days.

“That is good,” said Luu. “But that improvement is very fragile and very tenuous. So please, do not take the early signs of an improvement to then abandon the tenets that we all know we should still adhere to.”

Yuba County public information officer Rachel Rosenbaum confirmed Wednesday that there was another coronavirus-related death in the bi

county area, bringing the total up to 14.

According to

Rosenbaum, the individual was a Yuba County resident in their mid

30s, with no underlying medical conditions, who had recently tested positive for COVID-19.

It is the third virus-related death reported in the area within the past week.

“They did not have to pass away,” said Luu. “And this reiterates the fact that this is a very dangerous virus and even if you get infected and you don’t get hospitalized, you can have long-term consequences.”

The number of confirmed cases in the area increased

by 25 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,218 cases.

There were 25 residents hospitalized as of Wednesday evening and 45 people recovered from the virus.

A total of 20,178 local residents have been tested

to date.

Luu said she wants to see the initial improvement in the Yuba-sutter continue and urges residents, especially as the Labor Day holiday approaches, to avoid social gathering, avoid interacting with people outside of their

households, wear facial covering in public, maintain social distancing of six feet or more and maintain good hand hygiene.

Rosenbaum said that, starting this week, the COVID-19 dashboard will only be updated Monday through Friday moving forward and will not be adjusted on weekends or holidays.

“This is to maintain resiliency of staff who have been working seven days per week for several months now,” said Rosenbaum. The daily video updates will also transition to an as needed basis for significant updates.”