Coronavirus Update: 20 New Deaths, 174 Cases Reported Monday

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – Twenty more Riverside County residents died of the new coronavirus and county health officials announced Monday that 174 new cases have been confirmed. The newly released numbers takes the countywide death toll to 181 and the number of positive cases to 4,354.

The new cases were announced on the same day that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that some parts of the state’s retail and hospitality industries could begin to reopen by week’s end and when the number of confirmed cases and deaths have started to decline across California.

The updated caseload also comes a day before the Riverside County Board of Supervisors is set to consider lifting public health orders. Riverside County has the second-highest number of confirmed cases anddeaths in the state, behind only Los Angeles County.

According to Riverside County health officials, 56,251 people have been tested for the coronavirus, which currently has 217 people hospitalized, including 78 in intensive care. The county reports that 1,982 people have recovered.

Last Wednesday, county Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser extended the county's emergency health order mandating social-distancing practices and requiring face coverings for residents when outside their homes, saying during a news conference, ``For the immediate future, this is the new normal in Riverside County.''

The following day, Riverside County Board of Supervisors Chairman Manuel Perez said he plans to ask the full board to terminate the local public health orders this week, claiming evidence shows the threat is receding and the need for economic recovery is growing. Perez said he and Supervisor Karen Spiegel will jointly present a motion Tuesday to nullify the four active local health orders, signaling a potential end to restrictions that in some cases are more aggressive than those at the state level.

County orders still in effect include are requirement that face coverings be worn outside the home at all times, under penalty of misdemeanor charges and fines; a ban on short-term rentals except in the case of providing emergency shelter for vulnerable people; a limit on playing golf; school closures; and mandated social distancing.

If a majority of the board votes to rescind the local orders, the county will revert to alignment with only mandates issued by the state, which call on people to remain home as much as possible and allow only so-called``essential'' businesses to remain open. Perez said the county has been long prepared for a surge in cases that never materialized.

``We prepared for the expected hospital surge with two Federal MedicalStations that we have not had to use. Our hospital bed and ICU bed use haveremained relatively consistent,'' Perez said. ``These data explain why ouroriginal modeling has changed.''

The county is seeking to expand screening facilities, with new sites potentially opening in the San Gorgonio Pass and the San Jacinto Valley, joining sites already in operation in Indio, Lake Elsinore, Perris and Riverside.

- City News Service contributed to this report.

City of Banning: 41 cases; 1 death

City of Beaumont: 149 cases; 5 deaths

City of Lake Elsinore: 109 cases; 6 deaths

City of Temecula: 100 cases; 0 deaths

City of Wildomar: 47 cases; 3 deaths