Local health officials start receiving backlogged COVID-19 lab results

Over the weekend, Yuba-sutter health officials received the first batch of backlogged COVID-19 lab results from the state.

The state’s electronic system, used to relay COVID-19 lab results, CALREDIE, stopped working properly sometime in late

July, which caused an undercount of cases across the state. Of Sunday’s 56 new cases, 21 percent were backlogged results – all 12 cases were from Yuba County.

“We expect to see backlogged cases for both Sutter County and Yuba County cases coming in through the next several days,” said Bi-county Public Health Officer Dr. Phuong Luu.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Yuba-sutter area increased by 64 on Monday, bringing the total to 1,662 cases.

Of Monday’s new cases, 13 are from the state’s effort to recover undercounted positive results.

Twenty-five people recovered from the virus and 26 residents were hospitalized as of Monday evening. Luu said several individuals currently hospitalized in the ICU are in their mid- to late-20s.

“This shows that it’s not just people in their 70s and 80s being affected by severe symptoms, but that anyone is vulnerable,” Luu said. “Please don’t think that because you are young, you are invincible.”

Eleven local residents have died due to the virus to date. A total of 13,075 residents have been tested.

Luu said the area has a long way to go before being removed from the state’s monitoring list, which requires modifications to indoor operations for many local businesses.

“With large ebbs and flows in new cases (some days it is 25 new cases, other days it is 50-plus), it is going to continue to take a lot of personal responsibility and action to drop down to where we need to be: seven new cases per day or less for Sutter County, and six new cases or less for Yuba County,” Luu said. “Again, practicing the tenets in public is good, but it is just as important to practice them at home, where you are more likely to let down your guard and be in close physical contact with others for longer periods of time.”