No coronavirus deaths reported in county Friday

Daily case rates, active known cases stay down

SANTA CRUZ >> After County of Santa Cruz Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel’s mentions of good news Thursday, the trend continued Friday on the county’s coronavirus dashboard.

Though Friday’s new COVID-19 cases were greater than the average for the week — approximately 40 when Santa Cruz County averaged 13.4 cases per day — the figure is lower than it was just weeks ago. In the last week of January, the lowest reported daily new case rate was 51 cases. This week, the lowest reported daily new case rate was six cases.

In addition, no new deaths were reported by the county in the last 24 hours.

Just 3% of the total COVID-19 cases recorded in the county since last March remain active, the dashboard shows. The most likely source of exposure to the virus for known cases countywide remains person-toperson household contact. Community-acquired and travel-related cases have dropped to just 2% or 3% in terms of likely sources of exposure.

The number of individuals hospitalized has also declined for numerous days in a row. There are 18 people are in the hospital because of their COVID-19 symptoms, two are in the ICU. Relief was created for hospitals Friday as 10 ICU beds were reported available. The county’s all-time high for open ICU beds was 37 beds available July 13. The county has 22 regular ICU beds between Dominican and Watsonville Community hospitals, but throughout the

pandemic surge beds have been provided when supplies and staffing allowed.

Young people — those 19 years and younger and those 20 to 29 years old — continue to account for the largest number of known cases in the county. However, more than 90% of those who have died are older than the age of 60, a demographic with less than one-fourth of the total cases of their junior counterparts.

The Latino community continues to be the most adversely impacted population in Santa Cruz County when it comes to the coronavirus. More than half of the county’s known cases are linked to Latinos while the group makes up just 34% of the county’s population.

Watsonville, the city with the largest number of Latinos in the county, accounts for 52% of all COVID-19 cases despite only housing 18% of its population. Santa Cruz has 23% of all county cases, almost parallel to its portion of the county population at 22%. All other cities have less than 10% of the county’s total cases, with Freedom hosting 6% of cases and Aptos hosting almost 5% of cases. The remaining jurisdictions account for less than 3% of cases, with Ben Lomond coming having the fewest.

To combat the virus, more than 76,000 vaccines have been administered across Santa Cruz County by county health, multicounty entity and community partner providers, the California Department of Public Health vaccine page says. Out of all 58 counties in the state, Santa Cruz County ranked 22nd in doses administered Friday. Monterey County ranked 23rd, while neighbors in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County ranked fifth and 11th respectively.

The equity in vaccines seems to be improving, as both the Latino and multirace categories are climbing in percentages of shots given. Still, the number of vaccine doses given to white individuals in the county nearly doubles both categories; county leaders said during their weekly Thursday press conference that they are working to make sure the doses look more equal with each phase of the vaccine rollout plan.

The number of individuals who live and work in the area should continue to go up as providers continue to report a volume of doses on hand systemwide. According to the California Department of Public Health, the county has 9,925 vaccines on hand. Dignity Health has 76,496, Kaiser has 292,096 and Sutter Health has 46,653 for their patients statewide.

To be notified when it is one’s turn to be vaccinated, sign up for the state’s portal at myturn.ca.gov.