COVID-19 Cases Surpass 6K As Testing Escalates: Riverside County

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — With 14 no-charge coronavirus testing sites now operating across Riverside County, the number of local confirmed cases continues to rise. But the COVID-19 "positivity rate" remains below the 8% threshold that Gov. Gavin Newsom has established for counties like Riverside that seek to fast track reopening their local economies.

On Tuesday, Riverside University Health System-Public Health reported 91 new cases of the virus, bring the total to 6,053. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted countywide stands at 86,600, an increase of 1,296 since Monday's reporting.

The number of cases and tests conducted shows the county's positivity rate at approximately 7%.

Hospitalizations, which are another criteria established by Newsom for reopening at an accelerated pace, saw a slight uptick since Monday. According to the updated figures, nine additional patients were hospitalized with the illness, bringing the total to 195, with 68 of them in ICU.

For those counties that want to expand phase 2 reopening, the governor's criteria requires no greater than a 5% increase in hospitalizations over the last seven days, or no more than 20 people hospitalized over the last 14 days. The county has been trending downward. On May 13, 206 hospitalizations were reported.

While the figures may seem like good news to those who want to reopen quickly, the county lost another nine people to the illness since Monday's report — bringing the death toll to 270. While the number of dead is tragic, hospitalizations and positivity rates are now being closely monitored because they are a better indication of virus spread, according to the governor.

The number of county residents who've recovered from the illness stands at 3,871.