Martinez Sees COVID-19 Case Rate Higher Than County

MARTINEZ, CA — As Contra Costa County health officials sound the alarm about an uptick in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, the number of recently diagnosed cases in the city of Martinez was higher than the countywide average.

Martinez has seen 434 total cases of the coronavirus, with 40 new cases reported within the past two weeks. That translates to 107.8 cases per 100,000 residents for the city in the last 14 days.

There have been 19,685 cases in Contra Costa County since March, with 87.8 cases per 100,000 residents countywide over the last 14 days

Last Tuesday, Contra Costa entered the orange tier — the second-lowest tier of the state's color-coded, four-tiered reopening plan. But the average number of daily cases grew and 40 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 on Monday. By Wednesday of this week, county officials had already enacted new restrictions and warned that Contra Costa could move back into the more-restrictive red tier next week.

Those restrictions go into effect Friday and include the prohibition of outdoor bars, and decreased indoor capacity at restaurants, religious services, movie theaters and more.

On Thursday, county health officials reported a daily case rate of 5.8 per 100,000, which is above the orange-tier benchmark of fewer than 4 per 100,000 people. As recently as Wednesday, the county reported a daily case rate of 4.9 per 100,000 people.

Health officials continue to stress that people wear masks, wash their hands and maintain six feet of distance from people who are not part of their household.

Patch editor Courtney Teague contributed to this report.