Santa Clara County Reports 1,050 New Coronavirus Cases, 4 Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 1,050 additional coronavirus cases Thursday.

The latest report brings the countywide case count to 44,039.

The county reported four additional coronavirus-related fatalities Thursday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 519.

There were 414 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Santa Clara County as of Thursday, of which 94 were being treated in intensive care units.

Elsewhere in the Bay Area and beyond, San Francisco's Latinx population continues to face higher positivity rates of COVID-19, especially among low-income and essential workers, according to a testing survey conducted in late November.

The Unidos en Salud/United in Health initiative, organized by the University of California at San Francisco, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the Latino Task Force for COVID-19 and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, tested nearly 7,000 residents in the Mission District and the Bayview, Excelsior and Tenderloin neighborhoods before and after Thanksgiving.

Test samples were collected Nov. 22-24 and Nov. 29-Dec. 1 through door-to-door canvassing by the LTF, according to UCSF. The four neighborhoods were chosen for their high case numbers relative to the rest of the city.

Of those tested, 4.4 percent were positive for the virus, higher than the city's seven-day average 2.9 positivity rate as of Wednesday. In addition, 79 percent of those who tested positive were Latinx despite just over half of those tested being Latinx.

At the 24th Street Mission BART station plaza, where organizers recorded the highest number of cases, one-tenth of Latinx people in the survey tested positive.

The 2021 Contra Costa County Fair, scheduled for May 13-16 at the county Event Park (fairgrounds) in Antioch, has been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fair officials said Thursday.

"There is no higher priority than the safety of our fairgrounds family, patrons, vendors, promoters and sponsors," according to a statement from the Contra Costa Event Park Board of Directors, who voted unanimously Wednesday night to cancel the 2021 fair.

This marks the second consecutive year there will be no Contra Costa County Fair, as COVID-19-related concerns also prompted the cancellation of the fair in May 2020.

Board members said they understand canceling the fair again has both financial and emotional impact on everyone connected with the fair, including the visitors.

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There have been 1,467,025 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20,511 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Thursday afternoon according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 15,577,813 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 292,034 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Thursday afternoon.

There have been 69,483,855 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,580,006 deaths reported globally as of Thursday afternoon.

— Bay City News contributed to this report