San Diego County announced on Wednesday that it reached a grim milestone of COVID-19 deaths exceeding 5,000 in their most recent weekly report.
There were 659 new COVID-19 infections and 14 deaths added to the county’s Health and Human Services weekly count, bringing the cumulative deaths to 5,002.
“Every death is tragic, and our condolences go out to the family and friends of all of the San Diegans who have lost their lives during this pandemic,” said Wilma J. Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “Vaccination continues to be our best defense against COVID-19 and associated hospitalizations. I urge anyone who is not up to date with their shots to get vaccinated.”
According to the agency, since the first local case was identified in March 2020, 60 percent of deaths were identified as male, and 40 percent were female.
The pandemic brought a total of 734,656 infections in the county since it began.
The current rate of infections in the county is 1,516 deaths per 1 million residents. It is significantly lower than 2,115 million in the state and 2,841 per million seen nationwide.
There has been a gradual decrease in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county. Officials reported hospitalizations fell to 562 on Wednesday, down from 574 on Tuesday.
The number of those patients in intensive care decreased by six to 109, and available ICU beds increased by five to 211.
An average of 17,995 COVID-19 tests were recorded each day for the past week. Of those, 6.5 percent returned positive —down from 9.9 percent on Friday.
A total of 1,151,574 — or 54.3 percent—of San Diego County residents who are fully vaccinated have received a booster shot, according to the HHSA.
More than 2.9 million —or 92.6 percent— of San Diego County residents age 5 and older are at least partially vaccinated, and more than 2.56 million, or 81.4 percent, are fully vaccinated.
