San Diego County public health officials on Saturday reported 436 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the county total to 12,837.
Two more COVID-19 deaths were also reported, bringing the total to 360.
The patients, a woman and a man in their 70s and 80s, died Thursday, according to county officials. The man who died had no underlying health problems, the county reported. Conditions that may increase the risk of death for COVID-19 patients include obesity, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and other chronic health conditions.
The county received 9,172 test results on Friday, of which 5 percent were positive. Meanwhile, the 14-day moving average for positive tests in San Diego was 3.5 percent. The percentage of positive tests is used as a marker of whether the pandemic is stable, increasing or decreasing in one area, with a higher positivity rate indicating an increase in infections.
Although the state tracks them over a two-week period, the short-term figures show an increase in the positivity rate. As of Thursday, the seven-day average for positive tests was 4.5 percent, higher than the 3.5 percent measured during the previous two-week period.
In another sign of increasing numbers, Scripps Health reported there were 126 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, the highest total in a single day to date, according to spokesman Steve Carpowich. Also on Friday, Scripps Mercy Chula Vista and Scripps Mercy San Diego reached all-time single-day highs for their respective campuses, with 38 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at each facility, she said in an email to the Union Tribune.
Overall, 1,730 COVID-19 patients, or 13.5 percent of county-wide cases, have required hospitalization so far. Of these, 475 people, or 27.5 percent of hospitalized patients, have been admitted to an intensive care unit.
In the past seven days, there have been six outbreaks in the San Diego community, which are just below the trigger for seven outbreaks in seven days, the threshold that could delay the reopening of companies or even immediate closure.
However, authorities did not wait for that trigger to take action against a company that they said had refused to observe health precautions.
On Friday, county health officials ordered the immediate closure of Hernandez Hideaway, a restaurant on the shore of Lake Hodges, for failing to follow a public health directive designed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. That was the second restaurant closed for violating COVID-19 restrictions. The Prez, a bar and restaurant in Pacific Beach, closed on May 22 after a video of a party masked shoulder to shoulder without masks appeared on social media.
