Coronavirus Death Toll Pushes Past 600 In Riverside County

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Coronavirus numbers reported Wednesday by Riverside University Health System show a spike in deaths that marks the largest since reporting began in the county. Officials cautioned that the high one-day tally includes deaths that occurred mostly over the course of the last week and a half but had not been reported yet.

Riverside County's death toll now stands at 617, an increase of 28 people over Tuesday's figures. The youngest fatality reported Wednesday was a 38-year-old man from Menifee and the oldest a 96-year-old from woman from Palm Desert, according to Riverside University Health System spokesman Jose Arballo Jr.

Wednesday's tally includes one death from mid-June with the remainder occurred over a time period that began July 11, Arballo said.

By comparison in Southern California, the death toll in Los Angeles County stands at 3,893; 521 in Orange County; 505 in San Diego County; 337 in San Bernardino County; 165 in Imperial County; and 63 in Ventura County.

The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Riverside County increased by 1,092 Wednesday to 31,982. Of that total, 11,270 have recovered from the illness.

More COVID-19 patients are in ICU Wednesday, the figures show. Currently, 528 are hospitalized countywide, which includes patients 143 in ICU. Tuesday's figures showed 536 COVID-19 hospitalizations with 135 of those patients in ICU.

Hospitalized patients transferred to the county from Imperial County stand at one, and the number of hospitalized inmates is reported at six, according to the most recent data from Riverside County Emergency Management Department.

The number of people screened for the virus was reported at 335,805.

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—City News Service contributed to this report.