Riverside County Announces 80 New Coronavirus Cases, 4 Additional Deaths
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) -- Riverside County officials announced Tuesday 80 new confirmed coronavirus cases and four more deaths.
The countywide totals are 371 confirmed cases and 13 fatalities.
Information is known about three out of the four latest fatalities — a man over one over 70 from Palm Springs, another over 60 from Cathedral City, and one over 80 from Wildomar. Details about the fourth fatality are not immediately known, said Jose Arballo, a spokesman for Riverside University Health System.
According to public health data, 30 county residents have recovered from COVID-19 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Last week, the Riverside University Health System estimated that the number of coronavirus cases in Riverside County will likely double every four to five days and coronavirus-related deaths could rise to 125 times the current figure in the next month.
RUHS Dr. Geoffrey Leung said the rise in cases could kill 1,000 people and infect 50,000 by early May. He also said he expects all the county's hospital beds will be used up by April 12 and the county's supply of ventilators will be in full use between April 22 and May 5.
Leung said he based his estimates on local approximations and nationwide trends.
The local mortality rate is slightly over 1%. More than 3,000 residents had been tested for the virus as of Friday.
On Tuesday, drive-thru COVID-19 testing in the Coachella Valley relocated to the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio, near where a temporary hospital is located.
Testing at that site will be available Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. by appointment only.
"The fairgrounds is a large site and able to handle both operations of the federal medical station and the drive-up testing," Brooke Federico, Riverside County spokesperson said. "The federal medical station will be in two of the buildings on the fairgrounds, and the drive-up testing will be conducted in one of the larger parking lots."
On Monday, county officials said that another testing location will open Wednesday at the Harvest Christian Fellowship church in Riverside. It will also see people by appointment only. A testing location at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore has been operating with March 19 for those living within a 50-mile radius of Riverside.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
