Santa Clara County Reports 79 New Coronavirus Cases, No Deaths

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Clara County Public Health Department reported 79 additional coronavirus cases Wednesday.

The latest announcement brings the countywide COVID-19 case count to 5,552.

The county reported no additional coronavirus-related fatalities, leaving its COVID-19 death toll at 165.

There were 96 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Santa Clara County as of Wednesday of which 40 were being treated in intensive care units.

Santa Clara County published a new online dashboard Tuesday that will track COVID-19 testing by large health care systems and clinics. The dashboard shows the rate and count of tests done by each health care system in the past week. The new dashboard can be found here.

After an initial denial over the Independence Day weekend, state officials approved Santa Clara County's request to reopen more businesses under a new health order set to take effect next Monday. As of Tuesday morning, the county's 35-page application to verify it met certain criteria was added onto the California Department of Public Health's list of counties with approval.

Elsewhere in the Bay Area and beyond, A 2020-2021 Walnut Creek general fund operating budget of about $79 million, down almost $12 million from last year and more than $12 million less than what was originally anticipated for this coming year before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, was approved late Tuesday night by the Walnut Creek City Council.

The newly adopted 2020-21 budget includes cutting 19.25 full-time-equivalent job positions, mostly from the city's arts and recreation programs, all but one — a vacant police lieutenant's spot — currently filled.

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There were 284,692 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 6,577 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Wednesday afternoon according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 3,035,231 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 132,041 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Wednesday afternoon.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

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