Tuolumne County has just one new case; Calaveras County’s death total hits 50

Tuolumne County had just one new case of COVID-19 to add to its totals on Wednesday, a low number in recent months as the county, the state and the rest of the nation weathered the global pandemic’s recent winter surge.

The new case was identified as a man in his 60s.

Although the winter surge has eased for now, COVID-19 is still claiming the lives of hundreds of Caifornians and thousands of Americans each day this week and in recent weeks. More than half a million people have died of coronavirus complications since the pandemic began to take hold in the U.S. a year ago.

Tuolumne County remains in a purple tier for widespread risk of COVID-19 transmission because the county’s case rates and test-positive rates have increased to 7.9 per 100,000 people and 3.4%, up from 5.2 and 2.1%, respectively, county Public Health staff saidtuesday.

It’s important to note the numbers and tier assignment announced tuesday are based on data for the week ending Feb. 27, nearly two weeks ago.the county can move to a less restrictive tier on the state Blueprint for a Safer Economy with lower numbers for two consecutive weeks before being assigned to a less restrictive tier.

Case rates above 7 and test-positive rates above 8.0% put any California county in the most-restrictive purple tier. Case rates between 4 and 7 and testpositive rates between 5.3% and 8% are good enough to move down to the red tier for substantial risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Dr. Eric Sergienko, the Tuolumne County interim health officer, saidtuesday there’s still hope for a move into the red later this week or next if the state increases the maximum case rate for the red tier to 10 per 100,000 as anticipated.

Continuing to follow all preventive measures — physical distancing, wearing face coverings, and staying home when sick or experiencing symptoms — as well as vaccinations, will helptuolumne County move back on the path to the red tier, county Public Health staff saidtuesday. Calaveras County has already moved to the less-restrictive red tier.

A state vaccine dashboard updated Wednesday showed 18,971 vaccine doses had been administered intuolumne County. The county’s estimated population is 54,660. In Calaveras County, 12,908 vaccine doses had been administered as of Wednesday afternoon.the estimated population for Calaveras is 46,300.

As of Wednesday, Tuolumne County had tallied 3,986 total coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with 2,570 community cases and 1,416 SCC inmate cases. SCC inmate cases have accounted for 35.5% of the county’s cases. There were 16 active cases and one Covid-positive individual was hospitalized in the county as of Wednesday.

A total of 59 COVID-19 fatalities have been counted bytuolumne County Public Health since the pandemic began early last year.

Calaveras County added a death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing its total to 50. No information was provided about the person’s age, gender, or when they died, as the county’s Public Health Division rarely issues news releases now and only updates the numbers on its data dashboard.

There were an additional seven cases in Calaveras County tallied on Wednesday, as well.the county was moved from the purple to red tier earlier this week, with a daily case rate of 4.8 per 100,000 people and testpositive rate of 2.4%.

Statistics

All data as of March 10 unless otherwise noted:

Tuolumne County Total cases: 3,986 (2,570 community; 1,416 SCC inmates)

Deaths: 59 Recovered: 2,495 Active cases: 16 Active hospitalized: 1 Tests conducted: 75,478 (55,960 community; 19,518 SCC inmates)

Vaccines given: 19,600

Calaveras County Total cases: 1,941 Deaths: 50 Recovered: 1,876 Active cases: 15 Active hospitalized: 1 Tests conducted: 24,057 Vaccines given: 13,413

California: 3,516,862 total cases; 54,891 deaths; 50,316,151 tests conducted; 10,988,301 vaccines given.

United States: 29,166,566 total cases; 529,469 deaths.

World: 118,240,289 total cases; 2,623,789 deaths.

Sources:tuolumne County Public Health Department, Calaveras County Public Health Division, California Department of Public Health, John Hopkins University.

Testing

When you should get tested: Five days after travel or close contact with others outside of your household; as soon as possible if experiencing symptoms; and/or every 14 to 28 days if regularly working with the public.

Testing is available from:

• Local health care providers;

• Adventist Health Sonora, call first: (209) 536-5166;

• Optum Serv state testing sites:the Mother Fairgrounds, 220 Southgate Drive, Sonora — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; and Groveland Youth Center, 18950 Highway 120 — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays.

Appointments to state testing sites are recommended and can be scheduled at www.lhi.care/ covidtesting or by calling (888) 634-1123.

Vaccinations

• Thetuolumne County Public Health Department continues to distribute COVID-19 vaccine doses to people in Phase 1A and 1B of a state vaccine distribution plan, individuals 60 and older, people 16 to 64 in high-risk groups, as well as education workers, childcare workers, emergency services workers, and food and agriculture workers. Call (209) 533-7440 to make an appointment, or visit www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/1317/covid-vaccine online for more information.

• CVS and Rite Aid stores intuolumne and Calaveras counties are offering COVID-19 vaccinations for people 65 and older, sign up here: https://www.cvs.com/ immunizations/covid-19-vaccine or www.riteaid.com/ pharmacy/covid-qualifier.

• Adventist Health Sonora has been hosting weekend vaccination clinics at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds for people 65 and older. Find out more information by going to www.adventisthealthsonora.org/covidvaccine or call (209) 536-5165.

•The Safeway pharmacy in Sonora is now offering vaccines to people 65 and older, who can register at mhealthsystem. com/3127tuolumne.

•The Calaveras County Public Health Division has a clinic at Frogtown, 2465 Gun Club Road, outside Angels Camp. Register for appointments at https:// bit.ly/3dzqvdh or call (209) 419-7314.

•To find out if you’re eligible and register for available vaccination clinics, visit: https://myturn.ca.gov/.