COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the rise in El Dorado County

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Since Friday, 54 more residents of El Dorado County have tested positive for COVID-19, with one more resident passing away. There are currently seven hospitalizations, three residents are in the ICU.

According to El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams, the testing process to see which of the new cases is the Delta or another variant is very slow, about six weeks.

She said it would be reasonable to assume that many of these new cases are Delta variant, because genomic sequencing results currently show that over 40 percent of specimens being sequenced in California are Delta variant.

"I have heard no indication that it is more deadly," said Dr. Williams of the Delta variant. "It is much more transmissible, however, so vulnerable people should be continuing to take precautions, probably increasing their vigilance."

Vaccinations are still the best preventive measure and more important than ever, Williams noted.

Of the 54 new cases since Friday, 3 were in Pollock Pines, Camino, Kyburz; 20 in El Dorado Hills; 2 Diamond Springs, El Dorado; 1 in North County; 7 in Greater Placerville; 11 in Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue; 0 South County; 7 in Lake Tahoe region; 2 awaiting address confirmation (total awaiting address confirmation is 86).

13 are aged 0-17, 22 aged 18-49, 16 aged 50-64, 3 aged 65+; (0) date of birth unknown (total date of birth unknown is 12)

There are 1724 additional negative test result. There have been an additional 29 recoveries, taking the active case count to 319.

The deceased person is a male in the 50-64-year-old age group. He resided in the Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Rescue area. To date, 118 El Dorado County residents have died from COVID-19.

Of the seven hospitalizations and three patients in the ICU, six are hospitalized at Marshall, one at Barton. All of the ICU patients are in Marshall in Placerville. There are currently three available ICU beds in the county, all at Barton Health in South Lake Tahoe.

Rates:
Adjusted case rate: 3.0
Positivity rate: 1.9%
Health equity quartile positivity rate: 4.7%

Vaccine measures:
Cumulative fully vaccinated: 88,720 (45.9%)
Cumulative with at least one dose: 99,949 (51.8%)

"As expected with a 95 percent-effective vaccine, some breakthrough cases occur," said Williams. "However, those vaccinated people who get infected do not typically get very ill. I think the underlying messages are that COVID is still out there, that vulnerable people are still getting infected, some hospitalized, and a few die, and that vaccination is the best way to protect oneself."