COVID-19 numbers for El Dorado County continue to climb; Barton reinstates Incident Command

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - There have been 196 new cases of COVID-19 in El Dorado County since Friday. Due to the rising cases, Barton Memorial Hospital has reinstated its Incident Command to prepare for the increase in the number of people who need care in our community due to COVID-19. The Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) is an incident management system, which supports hospitals and healthcare organizations in their emergency management planning, response, and recovery capabilities for unplanned and planned events.

"Positive cases have increased over the last month within our region," said Mindi Befu, public information officer for Barton. "The Delta variant is significantly more contagious than the Alpha strain. Similar to the rest of the country, hospitalizations are mainly comprised of unvaccinated individuals. We are also seeing breakthrough cases amongst the vaccinated population, but the illness is less severe. Masking is proven to slow the spread, and we are encouraging all eligible people to vaccinate as the vaccination is currently safe and effective against severe illness and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant."

The 14-day case rates and number of the population per 100,000 residents are continuing to climb closer to data seen at the height of the pandemic in Winter 2020. It is already higher than last summer. At no time during the winter were all areas of El Dorado County in the red, or high spread, category.

While COVID-19 once seemed to target older people, community members and visitors of all ages are now being infected, including children too young to receive the vaccine, said Befu. Similar to national trends, the majority of hospitalizations continue to be among those who are not vaccinated.

The new cases for El Dorado County:

Pollock Pines, Camino, Kyburz - 599 cases - +6 - The 14-day new case rate is 25 with 184 per 100,000 residents.
El Dorado Hills - 2582 cases - +37 - The 14-day new case rate is 156 with 367 per 100,000 residents.
Diamond Springs, El Dorado - 550 cases - +12 - The 14-day new case rate is 46 with 489 per 100,000 residents.
North County - 565 cases - +8 - The 14-day new case rate is 42 with 290 per 100,000 residents.
Greater Placerville - 2112 cases - +26 - The 14-day new case rate is 127 with 347 per 100,000 residents.
Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue - 2012 cases - +27 - The 14-day new case rate is 96 with 271 per 100,000 residents.
South County - 159 cases - +5 - The 14-day new case rate is 22 with 212 per 100,000 residents.
Lake Tahoe region - 3053 cases - +56 - The 14-day new case rate is 248 with 820 per 100,000 residents.
+19 awaiting address confirmation, total 130

28 aged 0-17, 123 aged 18-49, 31 aged 50-64, 14 aged 65+; 0 date of birth unknown (total date of birth unknown is 13)

The active case count is 1095 - +305. 1,820 additional negative test results
- 72 assumed recoveries (10,667)

To date, 121 El Dorado County residents have died from COVID-19. There were no new deaths reported today.

There are 15 (+1) hospitalized with 6 (+2) in the ICU. Of these patients,11 are hospitalized at Marshall, 4 at Barton. Of the ICU patients, 4 are in Barton, 2 at Marshall in Placerville. There are currently no available ICU beds in the county, 0 at Barton Health in South Lake Tahoe, 0 at Marshall.

Barton Hospital is keeping all patients in negative pressure rooms in the ICU at this time, though only counting actual ICU patients in the figures above. They have more negative pressure rooms should they be needed.

Rates:
Adjusted case rate: 22.6% (+4.6%)
Positivity rate: 10.8% (+1.2%)
Health equity quartile positivity rate: 14.8% (+3.2%)

Vaccine measures:
Cumulative fully vaccinated: 94,008 (48.7%) (+0.1%)
Cumulative with at least one dose: 106,260 (55.0%) (+0.2%)

To view the County's COVID-19 page, visit HERE.