San Mateo County Reports 237 New Coronavirus Cases, No Deaths

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County Health reported 237 additional coronavirus cases Thursday.

The latest report brings the countywide case count to 36,451.

The county reported 13 additional coronavirus-related fatalities Thursday, bringing its COVID-19 death toll to 395.

The county's reported figures include previously unreported data added retroactively.

There were 115 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in San Mateo County as of Thursday, of which 29 were being treated in intensive care units.

Elsewhere around the Bay Area and beyond, new coronavirus cases nationwide fell almost 16 percent over the last week, Axios reports.

Concerns of the pandemic turning in the opposite direction persist however as the nation is averaging 139,000 new cases and more than 3,000 deaths per day.

Of particular concern is the South African variant which early data show may be able to elude vaccines, ABC News reports.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told PBS the emergence of new variants underscores the importance of pushing out vaccinations.

If we can implement our vaccine programs with the vaccines that we currently have and bring the level of virus replication and dynamics in the community to a very low level, the virus will not mutate as efficiently as it does when you have an explosion of infections,” Fauci said.

Airport workers at San Francisco International Airport held a vigil Thursday in honor of their colleagues who died from COVID-19 and demanded that Gov. Gavin Newsom put airport workers and other essential workers back on the vaccine priority list.

SEIU United Service Workers West, a union representing more than 40,000 janitors, security officers, property and airport service workers, was incensed by Newsom's Jan. 26 announcement that changed California's vaccine distribution plan.

Santa Clara County officials on Thursday announced the expansion of its vaccination rollout to all residents 65 and older.

The vaccine is available to all county residents within this age group regardless of whether they have insurance, officials said in a statement.

The move is significant, county officials said, noting that 81 percent of COVID-19 related deaths in Santa Clara County have occurred among individuals age 65 or older.

“Given limited supply of vaccine and the continuing high rates of COVID-19, we must prioritize vaccinating those at greatest risk of death or serious illness,” Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said in a statement.

“We are anxious to vaccinate a much broader segment of the population and are ready to do so as soon as vaccine supplies allow.”

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COVID-19 cases and 42,541 coronavirus-related deaths in California as of Thursday afternoon according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had 26,654,872 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 455,221 coronavirus-related fatalities as of Thursday afternoon.

There have been 104,792,591 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,280,666 coronavirus-related deaths reported globally as of Thursday afternoon.

— Bay City News contributed to this report