Health

San Diego County COVID-19 Update – 10-18-2020

coronavirus illustration
Credit: Shutterstock
By Craig Sturak, County of San Diego Communications Office
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Here is today’s COVID-19 update from the County Health and Human Services Agency with data through Oct. 17.

State Metrics:

  • Under the state monitoring metrics, San Diego County remains in Tier 2, also referred to as the Red Tier.
  • San Diego’s state-calculated, adjusted case rate is 6.8 per 100,000 residents, up from 6.5 in the previous assessment. Limit for Tier 2 is 7.0.
  • The testing positivity percentage is 3.0%, down from 3.5% last week, placing it in Tier 3 or the Orange Tier.
  • The state’s health equity metric looks at the testing positivity for areas with the lowest healthy conditions. This metric does not move counties to more restrictive tiers but is required to advance.
  • The County’s health equity testing positivity percentage is 5.7, down from the 6.2 percent reported Oct. 6.
  • The California Department of Public Health will assess counties on a weekly basis, with the next report scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Community Setting Outbreaks:

  • One new community outbreak was confirmed on Oct. 17 in a business.
  • In the past seven days (Oct. 11 through Oct. 17), 32 community outbreaks were confirmed.
  • The number of community outbreaks remains above the trigger of seven or more in seven days.
  • A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households over the past 14 days.

Testing:

  • 12,233 tests were reported to the County on Oct. 17, and the percentage of new laboratory-confirmed cases was 3%.
  • The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 2.7%. Target is less than 8.0%.
  • The 7-day, daily average of tests is 10,573.
  • People with and without symptoms who are at higher risk for COVID-19 should be tested. Healthcare and essential workers should also get a test, as well as people who had close contact to a positive case or live in communities that are being highly impacted.

Cases:

  • 373 new cases were confirmed among San Diego County residents on Oct. 17. The region’s total is now 52,355.
  • 3,763 or 7.2% of cases have required hospitalization through Oct. 17.
  • 870 or 1.7% of all cases and 23.1% of hospitalized cases had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.

Deaths:

  • No new COVID-19 deaths were reported in San Diego County on Oct. 17. The region’s total remains at 853.

More Information:

The more detailed data summaries found on the County’s coronavirus-sd.com website will be updated around 5 p.m. today.