Virus notes: July 28-29 -- San Joaquin Valley, new virus epicenter

MERCED (BLJ) – On Tuesday,  July 28, Merced County Public Health Department reported 3,763 cases of coronavirus ( 253 new from Monday) and 29 deaths.

On Wednesday, July 29:

California reported 475,305 cases (8,755 new) and 8,715 deaths (197 new);

The United States reported 4,510,801 cases (84,520 new) and 153,027 deaths (1,653 new);

The global report was 16,978,206 cases (240,364 new) and 666,239 deaths (6,865 new).

...In the agricultural basin between San Joaquin and Kern counties, the per-capita average for new cases had reached 52.6 per 100,000 residents per day on Monday — a growth rate twice what Harvard scientists categorize as “red” or the highest risk level for spread. In Los Angeles County, that rate hit 36.9 per 100,000 at its peak and had fallen to 24.3 in the 15 days since. The Bay Area’s per-capita case rate Monday was 12.1 per 100,000 residents per day, averaged over the past week.

Those counties have also seen their per-capita hospitalizations rise higher than the peak so far in Los Angeles, which hit a new high July 18 but has since dropped off about 8%. In those Central Valley counties, there were 30.2 patients currently hospitalized Sunday for every 100,000 residents, compared to 20.5 per 100,000 in Los Angeles and 9.7 per 100,000 in the Bay Area.

In Tulare and Stanislaus counties, the test positivity rate had soared to 17.7%, while it was up to 10.7% in Fresno, Newsom said Monday. Both were significantly higher than the state as a whole, which has seen its seven-day rate plateau between 7% and 8% since the second week of July ... --Even Webeck, San Jose Mercury, July 28, 2020