Riverside County Closer To Meeting CA's Coronavirus Benchmarks

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County's coronavirus figures continue trending in the right direction, although new infections and deaths continue, data released Friday show.

According to Riverside University Health System-Public Health, 526 new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, bringing total cases to 49,482 since reporting began. Of that total, 26,792 people have recovered from the illness.

The COVID-19 death toll stands at 927 countywide, up by five since Thursday's reporting.

Hospitalizations continue to drop. On Friday, 252 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, a drop of 15 since Thursday. Of those 252 patients, 81 are in ICU, according to RUHS.

Last Friday, 314 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 91 ICU patients.

Riverside County COVID-19 hospitalizations have been declining since mid July, with Coachella Valley facilities still seeing the bulk of patients.

To date, the county has tested 480,546 residents for COVID-19 . Friday the state reported that over the last seven days, Riverside County's positivity rate was 9.9 percent — down substantially from its high of nearly 20 percent last month.

If the county drops below an 8 percent positivity rate, it will be poised to drop off the state's "monitoring list," provided it meets other thresholds, including hospitalizations.

The number of Riverside County residents getting tested for coronavirus has declined, which could potentially delay reopening of the county's economy, according to local officials. The state's testing threshold is a daily minimum of 150 people per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period.

As of Friday, Riverside County was trending at 167 people per 100,000. Fewer than a dozen counties were trending lower, despite Riverside being one of the most populous California counties.

"Over the last two weeks, the testing has been down tremendously," according to Riverside County Emergency Management Department Planning Chief Brian Tisdale, who also serves as Mayor of Lake Elsinore.

"Testing is key to reopening [the county]," Tisdale said, noting that there are 14 testing sites across the county. Testing is free, appointments are available, and results are ready in "three to five days," he said.

Despite concerns over decreased testing, on Friday the county confirmed that schools serving transitional kindergarten through grade 6 may apply for a waiver to reopen amid the pandemic.

"The biggest predictor of school spread is community spread, and although we're still finding new cases of COVID-19, our case rate has dropped enough where we can consider elementary school waivers," said Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser. "However, the waiver process won't be a rubber stamp, and elementary schools will be required to publicly demonstrate they have the pieces in place to operate safely or they won't be approved. We want exposures to be rare and, should an exposure occur, for the school to show they can handle it without putting others at risk."

>>>Read more about the waiver program: Riverside County Elementary Schools Can Now Seek Reopening

After falling off the state's monitoring list this week, San Diego County is poised to reopen all schools Sept. 1 if it continues to meet state thresholds, including case rate, percentage of positive tests, average number of tests the county can perform daily, changes in the number of hospitalized patients, and the percentage of ventilators and intensive care beds available. The county will be placed back on the list should it be flagged for exceeding any one of the metrics for three consecutive days.