Riverside County Surpasses 2,000 COVID-19 Deaths

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The total number of COVID-19 deaths surpassed 2,000 in Riverside County, while hospitalizations due to the illness increased substantially, new data released Monday showed.

Due to the New Year's Day holiday and the normal weekend closure, Riverside County health officials have not provided updated COVID-19 numbers since Dec. 31. On Monday, the reported COVID-19 deaths jumped by 111 to 2,096, according to Riverside University Health System-Public Health.

Riverside County COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by 79 to 1,543 Monday. The total includes 330 intensive care unit patients, a rise of 34 since Thursday.

The total number of coronavirus cases recorded in Riverside County since the pandemic began in early March reached 198,236 Monday, an increase of 17,683 since Thursday, according to RUHS. About two-thirds of the total positive cases are considered "recovered" from illness, RUHS reported.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the state is working to accelerate the administration of COVID-19 vaccines across the state, including expanding the number of distribution sites and the types of people who can give the shots.

Newsom said the state has received nearly 1.3 million doses of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, and another 611,500 doses have been shipped to the state. As of Sunday, however, a total of 454,306 doses had actually been administered.

"We are working aggressively to accelerate our pace," Newsom said. "... We're going to start seeing more rapid distribution of vaccines, I can assure you of that. That said, it's gone too slowly, I know, for many of us. All of us, I think, we want to see 100 percent of what's received immediately administered in people's arms.

"So that's a challenge, a challenge across this country. It's a challenge for that matter around the world, but that's not an excuse."

Newsom said the state is working to increase the number of sites where shots can be administered and the people who can give the shots, including dentists, pharmacy technicians and members of the National Guard.

The governor said he has heard "anecdotal evidence" about frontline health care workers — the top priority for receiving the shots — declining to be vaccinated, but he had no specific numbers.
He said the state is conducting a survey to get a better idea of the number.

The state's vaccine task force is still working on setting priorities of who will be first in line during upcoming phases of the distribution system. Vaccination is underway for frontline health care workers and nursing home residents. The next group to be vaccinated will contain people 75 and older, as well as workers in education and childcare, emergency services, food and agriculture.

Next in line will be people 50 and older; people 16-64 with underlying health conditions; as well as people working in water and waste management, defense, energy, communications and IT, financial services, chemicals/hazardous materials, government ops/community services, according to the governor.

"We've got work to do on this," Newsom said. " ... Obviously as we move into January, we want to see things accelerate and we want to see things go much faster."

Meanwhile, the governor said there are now six confirmed cases in the state of a new COVID-19 variant that was first detected in the United Kingdom. The new strain of the virus is not considered more dangerous, but it is far more contagious and spreads more rapidly. The virility of that strain contributed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announcing a nationwide lockdown in an effort to control its spread. Johnson said his advisers informed him the new strain was 50 percent to 70 percent more transmissible than the original virus.

Of the six cases found in the state, four were detected in San Diego County — which confirmed the diagnoses last week — and two more were identified in San Bernardino County. Newsom noted that more cases will almost assuredly be detected.

He added that federal health officials believe the current COVID-19 vaccines will also protect against the new strain of the virus.

—City News Service contributed to this report.