County reaches 15K COVID-19 case mark

On the same day, county marks 100,000 shots in arms, according to state

SANTA CRUZ >> While the region has met important metrics in the last few weeks to move to a less restrictive tier, new cases and new deaths are still being recorded in the Santa Cruz County coronavirus data dashboard that has elevated the county’s cases to more than 15,000 and its deaths to at least 190.

Approximately 41 new cases were recorded Friday, with the active known count going up by eight cases. The active known case count has fluctuated throughout the week but is generally lower than it was when the week began.

One new death was reported Friday, the sixth death accounted for since Monday. The 193rd coronavirus fatality in Santa Cruz County was an Asian man in his 80s with no preexisting, significant health conditions that could have contributed to his death. He was not a resident of a skilled nursing or residential care facility.

In better news, no new hospitalizations were reported on the

last weekday. Both the regular and ICU hospitalization figures have reduced since the beginning of the week. The county’s COVID-19 Effective Reproductive Number, or its Rt, continues to remain steadily around 0.5. This means that for every person who contracts COVID-19 in the county, they on average cause less than one new infection. The figure is used to understand how fast the virus is spreading in the community; at the holiday surge peak, the Rt was approximately 1.23, or more than one new infection per case.

The endeavor to vaccinate residents as efficiently and equitably as possible continues as Santa Cruz County reports receiving a total of 55,592 doses of the Moderna, the Pfizer and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine since midDecember. Of those more than 55,000 doses, 44,811 doses have been distributed and 10,781 are allocated to future clinics.

The best news came in the form of total vaccines given in the county as reported by the California Department of Public Health on Friday. An estimated 100,589 inoculations have taken place in Santa Cruz County since vaccine became available, the state’s dashboard showed.

Of the people with at least one dose of vaccine in Santa Cruz County, 44.7% are white, 19.2% are Latino, 19.2% identify as multi-race, 9.6% identify as “other,” 4.7% are “unknown,” 2.1% are Asian, 0.3% are Black, 0.2% are American Indian and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

In Santa Cruz County, 57.6% of the population is white, 33.5% of the population is Latino, 3% is multi-race, 0.4% identify as “other,” 0% is unknown, 4.4% is Asian, 0.9% is Black, 0.1% is American Indian and 0.06% is Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, according to the county dashboard.

Approximately 55.8% of people with at least one dose of vaccine in Santa Cruz County are 65 or older. According to DataShare Santa Cruz County, a data site organized by members from Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust and other related community agencies, individuals 65 and older make up 15.2% of the county’s population.