TEN MORE COVID-19 DEATHS PUSH COUNTY OVER 900

Ten COVID-19-related deaths pushed the regional pandemic total for San Diego County to 901 Tuesday.

Three of the deaths occurred Monday, including No. 900, a 59-year-old Latino man from the central part of the county who had other health conditions present at the time of his passing. The group included six men and four women, ranging in age from 49 to 89.

Tuesday’s report included 293 positives out of 8,200 test results returned to the county Monday, for a 4 percent positivity rate. The region’s 14-day average positivity rate is 3 percent.

Overall hospitalizations dipped a bit in Tuesday’s report, falling from 288 to 273, despite 24 residents admitted to local hospitals on Monday, suggesting that there were a significant number of discharges to counterbalance the increase.

In deference to the election, the state did not release a reopening tier report Tuesday, announcing it will release the weekly scorecard at noon on Wednesday instead.

Another day of data only worsened the region’s position, with its case rate per 100,000 residents increasing from 8.7 to 8.9. The region will need a significant downward adjustment due to the amount of testing performed in the region in order to stay at or under 7, the boundary between the state’s second most-restrictive red tier and most restrictive purple tier.

If the result Wednesday is purple, nothing will change immediately. But a second purple score next week would cause the region to fall to the most-restrictive tier in the four-tier system, causing restaurants, houses of worship and other establishments to lose their ability to operate indoors at 25 percent capacity.