Santa Clara County Reports 1,364 New Coronavirus Cases, 27 Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 1,364 additional coronavirus cases Thursday.

The latest report brings the countywide case count to 88,379.

The county reported 27 additional coronavirus-related fatalities Thursday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 1,028.

There were 666 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county as of Thursday of which 156 were being treated in intensive care units.

Elsewhere around the Bay Area and beyond, President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan, The Associated Press reports.

The plan includes funding to accelerate the vaccine rollout and financial relief to individuals, businesses and state and local governments, the report said.

The plan calls for sending $1,400 checks to most individuals, which in addition to the $600 included in the most recent coronavirus bill would bring in a total of $2,000.

The United States on Wednesday reported more than 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths for a second straight day, NBC News reports.

China, which has seen life return to normalcy after enforcing the world’s strictest lockdown measures early on in the pandemic, experienced its first coronavirus death on Wednesday.

The death was recorded in the Heibei province according to the report.

In Los Angeles County, currently the world’s COVID-19 epicenter, approximately one third of the county’s residents has been infected with the virus at some point since the beginning of the pandemic, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Around three million of the county’s residents have been infected according to the report. The estimate is more than three times greater than number of cases confirmed by testing.

Los Angeles County has experienced nearly 13,000 deaths.

Santa Clara County has now expanded vaccine eligibility to residents 75 years old and older.

As of Wednesday, residents aged 75+ can schedule vaccine appointments, in addition to those in Phase 1A comprised of healthcare workers.

"Right now, we are open to those 75 years and older because that is a very high-risk population... that needs to get vaccinated right away," County Counsel James Williams said during a news conference on Wednesday.

Schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District will continue with distance learning at least into March, the district

superintendent said Wednesday night.

With no known date for the lifting of the "purple tier" restrictions in the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy COVID-19 response plan, the school district has no choice but to continue distance learning for the immediate future, district Superintendent Adam Clark told the school board Wednesday.

Schools that are already closed cannot reopen under purple tier rules.

On Thursday, in a letter to Mount Diablo district parents, Clark said, "This is not where we had hoped to be right now, but it is the reality of the pandemic in our area."

Contra Costa Health Services said Thursday that while any county residents 65 and older are now eligible to register to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, the wait for an appointment could be weeks for some seeking the vaccine.

In response to new expanded guidelines from the state, Contra Costa Health Services and other health care providers in the county are now offering no-cost COVID-19 vaccine to residents 65 or older.

But Contra Costa officials stressed that someone in a higher-risk group – especially someone who is 75 or older – might receive an earlier appointment than will a younger person, even if the older resident requested a later appointment.

Don't miss updates about the coronavirus in California as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters

There have been 2,857,926 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 31,828 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Thursday afternoon according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 23,276,346 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 388,048 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Thursday afternoon.

There have been 92,993,666 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,991,206 coronavirus-related deaths reported globally as of Thursday afternoon.

— Bay City News contributed to this report