Coronavirus Cases, Hospitalizations Up In Riverside County

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County health officials reported 420 newly confirmed coronavirus cases and five additional virus-related deaths Wednesday, as the number of hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 continued to edge up countywide.

The total number of COVID-19 infections recorded since the public health documentation period began in early March is 69,827, compared to 69,407 on Tuesday, according to the Riverside University Health System. The number of verified patient recoveries is 62,009.

Officials said the number of deaths tied to COVID-19 stands at 1,329, five more than Tuesday.

Officials said the number of hospitalizations due to the virus now stands at 210, up 16 from Tuesday. That includes 56 intensive care unit patients, up three.

Emergency Management Director Bruce Barton told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the hospitalization rates have been gradually ascending over the last month, but he noted they are well below the mid-July highs, when nearly 600 people were hospitalized.

"Hospitals and clinics have returned to pre-COVID levels, so those who really need care (for anything) need to come to our hospitals," Barton said. "They are safe."

Meanwhile, it was also announced during the Tuesday board meeting that coronavirus screenings have increased significantly in Riverside County, and with them, a proportional rise in cases.

"A lot of outreach and work was done to increase testing, and that has been successful," Department of Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari said. "We have increased tremendously."

She said the county is now at a ratio of 236.4 tests per 100,000 residents, compared to 221.6 tests per 100,000 just over a week ago. The state threshold for large counties is 239.21 tests per 100,000.

The county's coronavirus positivity rate is 5.9 percent, up slightly from last week, and Saruwatari attributed part of the uptick to an ongoing elevated number of infections recorded in the eastern Coachella Valley.

The California Department of Public Health has calculated the county's COVID-19 case rate at 11.5 infections per 100,000 population.

On Wednesday, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the state is seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, but added that the public's efforts to prevent virus spread have kept the increases "modest" in most counties. He pointed to some other states in the nation, and foreign countries, that are seeing positivity rates exceeding 30 percent.

Two weeks ago, the county was pushed backward into the "purple" tier, the most restrictive under the state's color-coded coronavirus regulatory framework, meaning some businesses that had reopened in recent weeks were required to close again or move operations outdoors. The designation impacts gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, places of worship, zoos and museums.

Along with Riverside, nine other counties are in the state's purple tier: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Imperial, Tulare, Monterey, Madera, Sonoma, Tehama and Shasta.

On Tuesday, the Corona-Norco Unified School District became the first school district in Riverside County to qualify for reopening under a waiver program implemented by the state and county amid coronavirus. Read more: First RivCo School District Gets OK To Reopen Amid Coronavirus

—City News Service contributed to this report.