ENCINITAS, Calif. — San Diego County continued adding more confirmed coronavirus cases to its totals amidst an increase in testing capacity.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s Public Health Officer, said the county’s capacity is about 13,000 tests daily, but it has never achieved that in a single day. The county is only required to test at least 4,950 people daily under the state’s reopening guidelines. It believes the county already hit that number, but a glitch in how negative results from tests collected at state testing sites is making numbers appear lower than they are.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said he expects the issue to be resolved by the end of the week. The county said its goal is to conduct 6,000 tests daily, or one test for every 500 residents.
Cases in Encinitas increased faster than any other city between June 1 and June 8, at a rate of 33%. The city was home to one of the area’s first “re-open” protests. At the time, organizers pointed out the city went nearly a month without adding any cases.
Testing data only tracks a person’s residence and not where they may have contracted the virus.
South Bay communities continued adding the most coronavirus cases overall. However, most data is in line with the county average. As of Monday, the 92154 zip code had 777 total cases, or nearly 9% of the entire county’s cases. Combined, the five zip codes with the most case cases represent 29% of the county’s cases.
Health officials expect cases will continue to rise as testing continues and more businesses strategically reopen. The county is monitoring 14 different data points that could trigger a change in the Public Health Order. Among them is the percentage of positive cases relative to the number of tests performed.
The rate increased above a 4% positive rate over the weekend for the first time in nearly a month, which may be related to the testing glitch. Generally, the rate has only slightly increased over the past 14 days, despite more businesses reopening.
Tracers have not found any outbreak related to the reopening of hair salons, barber shops, restaurants and in-store shopping.
Instead, they have found an increase in outbreaks connected to gatherings at private homes.
“We are not encouraging people to [gather at private homes]. We’re advising against it because when you have individuals outside of your house come together there’s the increased risk for spreading COVID-19,” explained Wooten.
Health officials continued to monitor the number of available hospital beds and ICU capacity to ensure it can handle any potential surge in cases.
Scripps Health recently stopped accepting patients from Imperial County to ensure there is enough space for San Diegans. Wooten said she agreed with and supported the decision, but that it was not done at the county’s behest.
“We are thankful that our triggers are green, but we cannot rest on our laurels,” she said. “We have to constantly be on top of what's going on with the number of cases, hospitalizations outbreaks as well.”