Doctors intubate a coronavirus patient in the COVID-19 ICU at Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo on Friday. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
The number of people hospitalized with coronavirus infections in San Diego County was down eight to 232, according to the latest state data out Saturday.
Of those patients, 24 were being treated in intensive care, an increase of one from Friday’s total. Available hospital beds decreased by 11 to 257.
More than 800,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the San Diego region since the pandemic began, county health officials said Thursday. The new total case count includes 4,428 cases reported in the past four days.
The county only reports COVID-19 data on Mondays and Thursdays.
Since the first local case was identified in March 2020, a total of 803,293 cases have been recorded.
Recently, county health officials said weekly coronavirus cases have tripled over the past month, with hospitalizations also on the rise.
“The somber milestone and recent spike in cases should serve as a reminder this isn’t the time to let our guard down,” the county’s deputy public health officer Cameron Kaiser said. “Please, make sure you’re up to date on your vaccinations and boosters, and consider a mask, especially if you’re medically vulnerable yourself or may be around people who are.”
The county also reported 12 more COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, which occurred between Feb. 4 and June 5. Four of those deaths happened in the past two weeks.
Nine of the people who died were 80 years or older, two were in their 70s and one in their 60s. Five of those people were fully vaccinated, while the other seven were not fully vaccinated, though 11 of those people had underlying medical conditions.
The region’s total death count is 5,315.
–City News Service