New COVID-19 cases plateau in Tuolumne County
Tuolumne County appears to be plateauing from the latest wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 sub-variants, with 70 new cases confirmed from April 30 through Friday.
The number of cases was about the same as the week from April 23 through 29, when 71 cases were confirmed. That was nearly triple the number from April 16 through 22.
“It looks like a plateau overall for what we're seeing this week, so that's good news,” County Health Officer Dr. Kimberly Freeman said Friday morning. “Just like omicron, the BA.2 and 2.12.1 seem to hit up quickly and then go back down. Other regions in the United States are already on their way down from this one, so it doesn't seem to be a very significant or severe wave.”
There were a total of two COVid-related hospitalizations from April 30 through Friday, up from one during the week before that after five straight weeks with no one in the hospital because of coronavirus.
It was also the sixth straight week with no additional COVIDrelated deaths, with the county's total remaining at 181 over the past two-plus years.
Freeman said one person in the county was hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday morning, though she and her team at the county Public Health Department had not confirmed whether it was because of the virus or if they had another medical issue and happened to test positive.
The rise in cases has also boosted the county's two-week average daily case rate to 17.1 per 100,000 residents as of Friday, up from 11.9 per 100,000 residents on April 29.
“We are in the red for transmission, which is like what purple was a year ago,” Freeman said, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's color-coded system for gauging the level of spread within the community. “It is elevated, but people aren't getting as sick or using the hospital, so that's what's important.”
Calaveras County, which reports weekly COVID-19 numbers on Tuesdays, had 28 new cases from April 27 through Tuesday, up from 18 the week prior to that. However, it had no additional deaths or hospitalizations as of Tuesday.