COVID TESTING CONTINUES TO SURGE IN S.D.; A POSITIVE FOR REOPENING

New cases climbed over 300 for second day, deaths down

COVID testing in San Diego continues to show the kinds of increases likely to ref lect positively in the state’s reopening assessments.

The prior seven-day average of tests reported in San Diego hit 9,301 in Friday’s daily coronavirus tracking report, nearly 1,000 more on average than were reported two weeks ago.

More tests means a greater chance that the region will be able to avoid falling to the lowest level of the state’s COVID risk rankings.

Such a tumble would require restaurants and other organizations to stop using the small fractions of their indoor spaces that they have regained in recent weeks.

Overall, Friday’s COVID report showed relative stability.

Though the number of newly announced cases was over 300 for a second day in a row, hospitalizations continued to trend slightly downward. Two COVID-related deaths were also announced Friday. According to the county health department, both of the deceased were men age 50 or older with other underlying health conditions.

A report from the state earlier in the week illustrated just how powerful elevated testing levels can be in determining what activities can stay open, and on what terms. Because the average number of tests conducted locally exceeded the state median of 216 per 100,000 residents, the region saw its raw case rate adjusted downward on Tuesday from 7.2 to 6.7. Anything under 7.1 allows the region to remain at its current tier.

It is difficult to say for sure exactly what effect the recent testing gains, which have been driven by growing diagnostic efforts among students at UC San Diego, San Diego State University and other local campuses, will have on next Tuesday’s weekly tier report.

The state adjusts its raw case rates using tests by sample collection date, rather than the date that results were reported to public health departments.

But test results are not reported to the public by sample collection date, so it is impossible to precisely calculate what effect current testing levels will have in next Tuesday’s report. And the state will consider only those tests performed during a seven-day period from Sept. 20 through Sept. 26, so not all of the test results reported over the last week will have collection dates that fall into that window.

Still, an overall trend toward more tests per day bodes well for avoiding the tier anxiety that has been a weekly source of indigestion for many across the region.