Santa Cruz County’s COVID death toll up
SANTA CRUZ >> Hours into the regional stay-athome order with the rest of the Bay Area region, Santa Cruz County reported the most deaths it ever has in one day, according to Sentinel records.
Through its coronavirus data dashboard officials reported six coronavirus-related deaths Friday — bringing the total to 70. Previously, the most amount of deaths logged in a 24-hour period was five.
County spokesman Jason Hoppin confirmed that it was likely the highest count in a single day, but cautioned that the death postings revolve around “happenstance.” Some death certificates are submitted to the county a matter of hours afterward, while others take much longer.
“We’ll report deaths anywhere from three weeks ago to a few days ago on the same day,” he said in an email.
According to data from Hoppin, all of the deceased were older than age 60 and three of the six were residents at county skilled nursing facilities.
The 65th virus-related fatality was an Asian woman in her 90s who died Dec. 9. She had at least one significant underlying condition that contributed to her death, though COVID-19 was the cause. She was a resident of Hearts & Hands Post Acute and Rehab Center in Santa Cruz.
The 66th fatality was a Latino man in his 70s who died Dec. 12. He had no underlying conditions that would have contributed to his death. He was not a resident of any skilled nursing or residential care facility in the county.
The 67th fatality was a white woman in her 90s who died Dec. 9. She had at least one underlying condition that contributed to her death. She was a resident of Santa Cruz Post Acute.
The 68th fatality was a white man in his 70s who died Dec. 13. He had at least one underlying condition that contributed to his death. He was not a resident of a facility.
The 69th fatality was a Latina woman in her 60s who died Dec. 13. She had at least one underlying condition that contributed to her death. She was not a resident of a facility.
The final and 70th fatality was a white man in his 80s who died Dec. 13. He had at least one underlying condition that contributed to his death. He was a resident of Santa Cruz Post Acute.
The climbing death toll is indicative of a general rise in cases, the county’s dashboard shows. In just the last five days, Santa Cruz County has reported nearly 700 new cases of the
novel coronavirus. The active case count rose by more than 300 cases with 13 new hospitalizations reported. At the start of the week, just 55 people had succumbed to COVID-19 — 15 residents have lost their lives to COVID-19 since Monday.
The elderly and minority populations continue to be adversely affected by the virus. Though seniors make up for approximately 730 of the county’s 6,689 cases they make up for almost every single related death. Of the county’s known cases, 56% have afflicted the Hispanic/Latino population — consistent with the fact that 62% of the known cases in Santa Cruz County were rooted in south county, an area with a largely Hispanic population.
Since the pandemic started, 2.4% of Santa Cruz County’s general population — listed by the United States Census Bureau as 273,213 individuals in 2019 — has contracted COVID-19. This number is likely higher when considering residents who were tested in the counties they work in or have visited.