Santa Clara County Reports 1,802 New Coronavirus Cases, 30 Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 1,802 additional coronavirus cases Monday.

The latest report covers a two-day period going back to Saturday and brings the countywide case count to 98,583.

The county reported 30 additional coronavirus-related fatalities Monday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 1,264.

There were 545 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county as of Monday of which 146 were being treated in intensive care units.

Elsewhere around the Bay Area and beyond, the United States has experienced its first confirmed case of a mutant coronavirus strain first found in Brazil that is believed to be more contagious than the strain currently dominant in the U.S., The New York Times reports.

The Minnesota resident who tested positive for the strain had recently traveled to Brazil according to the report.

The variant shares characteristics with another strain first confirmed in South Africa, the report said. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are effective against the South African strain but offer slightly less protection according to the report.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed applauded Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement on Monday that he's lifting the statewide stay-home order, but she also urged residents to remain cautious of COVID-19 as some businesses could reopen as soon as Thursday.

With the statewide order that has been in effect since Dec. 17 now lifted, San Francisco is expecting to be placed in the purple tier of the state's COVID-19 reopening plan, allowing certain low-risk activities to reopen, including outdoor dining and indoor nail and hair salons.

Although the city, like the state, had been experiencing surges in COVID-19 cases since the holidays, Breed said Monday that cases have slightly gone down, with the city seeing 261 new cases per day, down from 280 new COVID-19 cases daily just two weeks ago.

Additionally, the number of intensive care unit beds remains stable with 26 percent available.

"The good news is we are in a better place than we have been in a long time," Breed said.

"But there's still work to be done. It still means we have to wear a mask and we have to socially distance ourselves from one another. We have to use common sense and just accept that we're going to be living with this for some time."

She added, "The better our numbers get, the more we will be able to open, the more we will be able where we can get to see one another in person again."

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There have been 3,182,826 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 37,305 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Monday afternoon according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 25,253,671 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 420,747 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Monday afternoon.

There have been 99,645,496 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,137,931 coronavirus-related deaths reported globally as of Monday afternoon.

— Bay City News contributed to this report