Santa Clara County Reports 2,507 New Coronavirus Cases, 36 Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 2,507 additional coronavirus cases Thursday.

The latest report brings the countywide case count to 69,879.

The county reported 36 additional coronavirus-related fatalities Thursday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 709.

There were 682 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Santa Clara County as of Thursday, of which 152 were being treated in intensive care units.

Elsewhere around the Bay Area and beyond, Santa Clara County's health care providers have received nearly 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses and several thousand health care workers and first responders have already been vaccinated, county officials said Thursday.

The county has received 40,605 doses of the vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its biotechnology partner BioNTech as well as 54,200 doses of the vaccine developed by the biotech company Moderna.

The county is in the process of vaccinating roughly 140,000 health care workers in accordance with state and federal guidance for the vaccine's rollout, according to Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county's COVID-19 testing and vaccine officer.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in San Francisco and intensive care unit beds throughout the Bay Area remain low, city leaders on New Year's Eve said the city's stay-at-home order implemented earlier this month will be extended.

The stay home order was set to expire next week, but city leaders said it will likely be extended beyond that.

Additionally, city leaders also announced they're extending a health order imposed earlier this month, requiring anyone coming into San Francisco from outside of the Bay Area or Santa Cruz area to quarantine for 10 days.

An appeal to prioritize public transit workers for COVID-19 vaccinations was made Wednesday by Valley Transportation Authority General Manager and CEO Nuria Fernandez in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Transit workers are a lifeline serving other essential workers, the elderly and those with disabilities at a critical time, Fernandez said, adding that "surveys show passengers are overwhelmingly low-income earners and people of color, many who are essential workers themselves."

He noted that VTA makes 33,000 trips a day.

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There have been 2,291,007 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 25,897 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Thursday night according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 19,967,278 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 345,736 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Thursday night.

There have been 83,418,826 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,817,998 coronavirus-related deaths reported globally as of Thursday night.

— Bay City News contributed to this report