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COVID-19 cases rise in Turlock, county
COVID graphic

As more businesses and organizations re-open and people start to resume parts of their lives, Stanislaus County continues to record more cases of COVID-19, as 16 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency expects that the opening of businesses combined with more tests being conducted will see the area accumulating more positive results, but is hopeful the increase will be steady and not a surge.

Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, Stanislaus County Public Health Officer said the health department will be watching the rates of cases and hospitalizations over the next few weeks and move forward as the data warrants.

"Hopefully we can stay down low as we increase our going out and going on with our lives," Dr. Vaishampayan said.

Stanislaus County has produced the Good2Go Training program for area business owners with the hopes it will instill confidence in their customers by ensuring that the business is following the proper protocols to keep their customers and employees safe. This short training educates business owners, managers and employees about critical issues and essential safety protocols to help protect themselves, their co-workers and their customers against the risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection.

Through this training, employers and their employees can learn general safety protocols, guided by state and federal recommendations, that will assist in safe reopening of business. A total of 80 percent of employee participation is required for the business owner/manager to be able to download the Good2Go marketing toolkit. The kit includes helpful marketing resources, plus a Good2Go Stanislaus window decal to display at their business location and a badge for social media and their websites that shows they have completed their training and are “good to go."

The free training program is available online at good2gostanislaus.com.

As of Friday, Stanislaus County has had 699 positive COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths. Of those deaths, 18 have been current and previous residents of the Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

"It's strange here," said Turlock resident Brent Ocken, who is currently staying at TNRC after breaking his hip. "You see gurneys come down the hall and you wonder is that one alive and going to the hospital or are they no longer alive."

Ocken himself tested positive for COVID-19, but said he was largely asymptomatic until coming down with pneumonia. He is doing better now and is awaiting the final clearance to be able to leave TNRC.

A total of 156 residents and staff at TNRC have tested positive for COVID-19.

Of the county's 699 cases, 104 are presumed active and 25 are currently hospitalized, with nine in ICU.

Hospital bed availability in Stanislaus County is at 51 percent. ICU bed availability is at 50 percent and 83 percent of the ventilators are available for use. At the start of this week, Stanislaus County hospitals had 569 hospital beds in use and by Thursday the number had risen to 636, according to the SCHSA data. The county's surge capacity for hospital beds is 233.

Most of the COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County have been transmitted through person to person contact, accounting for 69.96 percent of the cases. Community transmission is responsible for 27.32 percent of the cases and travel was at 2.72 percent.

The Hispanic population in Stanislaus County is 47 percent but account for 62 percent of the infections. Whites make up 41 percent of the county's population and 27 percent of infections. Asian Americans make up 5 percent of the county's total population and account for 6 percent of the cases. African Americans represent 3 percent of the total population in the county and 3 percent of the cases. Pacific Islanders represent 1 percent of the county and 1 percent of the infections. American Indian represents 1 percent of the county population, and 0 percent of the cases. The classification of other accounts for 3 percent of the population in the county and 2 percent of the cases.

People 20 years and younger make up 9 percent of the cases. Those between 21 to 30 years account for 15 percent of the cases. Individuals 31 to 40 years represent 16 percent of the cases, while those 41 to 50 years account for 18 percent. Those between 51 to 60 years make up 16 percent of the cases, followed by those 61 to 70 years, which make up 9 percent of the cases. People in the ages of 71 to 80 years account for 7 percent of the cases and those from 81 to 90 years are at 7 percent. Those 91 and over account for 3 percent of the cases in the county.

While those 60 years and younger make up the majority of the COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County, it is the people 65 years and older that are paying a heavy price in serious outcomes. of the 28 deaths in Stanislaus County, 89.3 percent were in people 65 years and older.

The cases are split 55 percent among females and 45 percent among males, but in deaths females account for 68 percent and men 32 percent.

Turlock has the most cases in the county at 202. Modesto has 186 reported cases, followed by 86 in Ceres and 51 in Patterson. Stanislaus County District 5 has 41 cases, District 3 has 32 cases and District 2 has 25 cases. Riverbank has 18 cases and Newman and Oakdale each have 14 cases. Waterford has 13 cases. Hughson has eight cases and District 1 has seven. Any area with less than five cases is not reported by the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency.

Stanislaus County has tested 12,943 people. The testing positive rate is 5.4 percent.

In Merced County's neighboring communities to Turlock, Delhi has 23 cases and Hilmar has six. All total, Merced County has had 283 cases, with 86 presumed active and seven deaths.

California has recorded 103,886 confirmed cases and 4,086 deaths from COVID-19 as of Thursday.