Region’s COVID-19 numbers keep moving in the right direction
Coronavirus cases in Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties continued an overall downward trend Wednesday.
Riverside County reported 164 more cases and 26 more deaths. The number of patients in county hospitals has decreased slightly, and now totals 143, including 32 in intensive care, according to the county public health dashboard. That’s about 25% fewer hospitalizations than reported last week.
The average number of new cases per day has hovered between 130 and 170 for the past two weeks. By contrast, in one week in late December, Riverside County reached an average of 4,600 new cases per day.
In San Bernardino County, the number of new cases being reported daily appears to be plateauing.
The county reported 138 more cases Wednesday and 54 more deaths. The number of fatalities recorded in the past day includes people who died weeks or months ago because of delays in the county’s reporting process.
The number of cases per day has hovered between 120 and 150 for the past two weeks, while the number of hospitalizations has gone up slightly over the past few days, and is at 165 as of Tuesday. However, the number of confirmed patients in hospitals is overall lower, 11%, than it was a week ago.
By contrast, in late December, more than 5,000 cases were being reported each day.
In Los Angeles County, officials confirmed 593 new cases and 86 additional deaths.
Among the fatalities was a child aged 12 to 17 with underlying health conditions — one of three children to die in L.A.
County from COVID-19.
Here are the latest numbers as of Wednesday, according to state and county public health officials:
Riverside County
• Confirmed cases: 293,600 total, up 164 from Tuesday, averaging 142 reported per day in the past week.
• Deaths: 4,190 total, up 26 from Tuesday, averaging 19.7 reported per day in the past week.
• Hospital survey: 143 confirmed and 32 suspected patients hospitalized Tuesday, including 32 confirmed and one suspected patient in the ICU, with 21 of 21 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 24.7% from a week earlier.
• Tests: 2,663,966 total, up 8,453 from Tuesday, averaging 7,506 reported per day in the past week.
• Recovered cases:
286,100 total, up 239 from Tuesday, averaging 201 per day in the past week.
• Vaccinations: The county says 864,250 doses have been administered to Riverside County residents, with 264,790 people fully vaccinated, as of Wednesday.
• Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of Tuesday:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 4.8. • Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 4.8.
• Test positivity rate:
2.7% (2.9% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods).
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, Riverside County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks, and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back into the more restrictive purple tier.
San Bernardino County
• Confirmed cases: 290,030 total, up 138 from Tuesday, averaging 139 reported per day in the past week.
• Deaths: 3,758 total, up 54 from Tuesday, averaging 25.3 reported per day in the past week.
• Hospital survey: 165 confirmed and 21 suspected patients hospitalized Tuesday, including 37 confirmed and one suspected patient in the ICU, with 25 of 25 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 11.3% from a week earlier.
• Tests: 2,652,889 total, up 3,311 from Tuesday, averaging 7,304 reported per day in the past week.
• Resolved cases (estimate): 284,993 total, up 116 from Tuesday, averaging 128 per day in the past week.
• Vaccinations: San Bernardino County residents have received 575,363 vaccine doses, with 206,566 people fully vaccinated, as of Saturday.
• Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of Tuesday:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 4.0.
• Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 4.0.
• Test positivity rate:
2.3% (2.6% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods).
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, San Bernardino County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks, and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back into the more restrictive purple tier.
Los Angeles County
• Confirmed cases: 1,215,772 total, up 593 from Tuesday, averaging 573 reported per day in the past week.
• Deaths: 22,965 total, up 86 from Tuesday, averaging 55 reported per day in the past week.
• Hospital survey: 729
confirmed and 147 suspected patients hospitalized Tuesday, including 169 confirmed and 25 suspected patients in the ICU, with 91 of 92 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 15.3% from a week earlier. • People tested: About 6,032,000 total, up about 10,000 from Tuesday, averaging 9,000 reported per day in the past week.
• Vaccinations: The county says 3.23 million doses, including 1,057,794 second doses, have been administered as of Wednesday, March 17.
• Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of Tuesday:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 4.8
• Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 3.7
• Test positivity rate:
1.8% (2.5% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods)
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, L.A. County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks, and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back into the more restrictive purple tier. This includes the latest numbers from L.A. County Public Health as well as Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments and are typically at least a day ahead of the county in reporting their cities’ cases and deaths.