Riverside County Reports 540 New Coronavirus Cases Over Holiday Weekend

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) ⁠— Riverside County Monday reported its highest one-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases since the county began keeping track.

Health officials released three days worth of data on Memorial Day ⁠— reporting 88 new cases on Saturday, 180 on Sunday and 272 Monday ⁠— on the heels of a major easing of public health orders this weekend that allowed in-person dining and shopping.

The county also reported two new deaths, bringing countywide totals to 7,004 cases and 292 fatalities.

Riverside University Health System spokesperson, Brooke Federico, said Mondays typically see larger increases in case counts because labs report a backlog of positive tests. She also said it was important to pay attention to the number of people being hospitalized, which remained unchanged at 194 patients.

"It means there's still available capacity in our hospital system," she said.

According to Riverside University Health System researcher Dr. Geoffrey Leung, the countywide hospitalization rate for COVID-19 cases has been flat for the past few weeks — remaining below 200 — while the rate of positive tests from coronavirus screenings has been between 2-4%.

Also on Monday, The Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert announced it would reopen Tuesday — though only a handful of shops would reopen their doors — and The Westfield Mall, also in Palm Desert, was expected to reopen Friday. Both would open with limited hours and increased sanitation.

Last Friday, the county's plan for accelerated reopening was approved by the state and, on Monday, the state said all retail locations could reopen for in-person shopping with county approval.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)