Health

San Diego County COVID-19 Update – 3-18-2021

Video by County News Center
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Here is today’s COVID-19 update from the County Health and Human Services Agency with data through March 17.

Vaccination Progress:

  • Nearly 1.44 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to the region, and more than 1.3 million have been logged as administered. This number includes both County residents and those who work in San Diego County.
  • Of those vaccinated to date, over 471,000 County residents, or 17.5% of San Diegans, 16 and older, are fully immunized.
  • Overall, over 745,000 County residents have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccine. That’s 27.7% of those eligible.
  • Those receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are being added to the total of fully vaccinated San Diegans.
  • The difference between doses delivered and those used in a vaccination represents approximately what is expected to be administered in the next seven days and doses still to be entered in the record system.
  • More information about vaccine distribution can be found on the County’s vaccination dashboard. For details on groups currently eligible and vaccination opportunities, visit www.vaccinationsuperstation.com.

State Metrics:

  • San Diego County’s state-calculated, adjusted case rate is currently 6.8 cases per 100,000 residents. The County is in the Red Tier.
  • Currently, the testing positivity percentage is 2.8%, placing the County in Tier 3 or the Orange Tier.
  • The County’s health equity metric, which looks at the testing positivity for areas with the lowest healthy conditions, is 4.2% and is also in the Orange Tier or Tier 3.
  • While two of the three metrics qualify the County for the Orange Tier or Tier 3, the state assigns counties to the more restrictive tier.
  • The California Department of Public Health assesses counties on a weekly basis. The next report is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23.

Community Setting Outbreaks:

  • One new community outbreak was confirmed March 17 in a food/beverage processing setting.
  • In the past seven days (March 11 through March 17), 19 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:

  • 15,929 tests were reported to the County on March 17, and the percentage of new positive cases was 3%.
  • The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 2.8%. Target is less than 8.0%.
  • The 7-day, daily average of tests is 11,615.

Cases, Hospitalizations and ICU Admissions:

  • 439 COVID-19 cases were reported to the County on March 17. The region’s total is now 266,756.
  • 13,379 or 5% of all cases have required hospitalization.
  • 1,628 or 0.6% of all cases and 12.2% of hospitalized cases had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.

Deaths:

  • Eight new COVID-19 deaths were reported March 17. The region’s total is 3,478.
  • Two women and six men died between March 12 and March 16.
  • Two people who died were 80 years or older, five were in their 70s and one was in their 60s.
  • All had underlying medical conditions.

More Information:

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