Coronavirus Testing Down 'Tremendously' In Riverside County

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The number of Riverside County residents who are getting tested for the coronavirus is declining, and officials are urging people who have not yet been tested to do so.

"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.

Tisdale was featured in a short public information video released by the county (watch below).

"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.

The California Department of Public Health wants to see counties test — per day — a minimum of 150 people per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period. Riverside County is trending slightly above the threshold at 179.9 people per 100,000, the updated CDPH data show.

The state also wants to see the total number of cases diagnosed and reported over a 14-day period be less than 100 people per 100,000 residents. The county is currently at 175.3 cases per 100,000, according to the CDPH.

If the county can't meet that benchmark, it can strive to reach an alternate threshold: a positivity rate of below 8 percent over a seven-day period. Riverside County is at 9.7 percent, according to Thursday's CDPH data.

These metrics are keeping Riverside County on the state's "monitoring list" and are preventing some local sectors from reopening.

As of Thursday, 474,861 people have been tested for the coronavirus countywide.

Tisdale stressed that the county is no longer recommending people get retested for the coronavirus unless they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

On Thursday, the Riverside University Health System - Public Health reported 326 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 48,956 since testing began earlier this year. Of these total cases, 26,382 have been cleared of illness, according to RUHS.

The number of people who've died from the illness was reported at 922, an uptick of five since Wednesday.

The county's hospitalizations stand at 267, which includes 90 patients in ICU. The numbers have dropped since Wednesday, when RUHS reported 301 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 97 ICU patients.

The county's COVID-19 hospitalizations have been steadily declining since mid July, a trend also seen at the state level.