Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura Counties Report Additional Coronavirus Deaths
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties all reported new deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus Tuesday.
Riverside County health officials reported 356 newly confirmed cases and one additional fatality, bringing countywide totals to 38,487 cases and 738 deaths. Officials said 20,079 people had recovered.
Health officials also reported 450 confirmed COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Monday, with 133 being treated in intensive care units.
"Hospitalizations are going down and ICU bed usage is going down," Jose Arballo, Jr., spokesperson for the Riverside County Department of Public Health said. "And we're hoping that that trend continues."
According to Arballo, the county was averaging 523 hospitalized coronavirus patients per day two weeks ago. On Monday, that number had dropped to 420 people hospitalized with the illness.
Riverside County officials warned that case numbers might increase in the coming days as lags in the state's reporting system are fixed.
"This is an integration, technical issue," Kim Saruwatari, county public health director, said. "Simply put, there is a significant lag in how the information is being fed into the system. We're anticipating significant increases in case reporting this week."
San Bernardino County health officials reported 585 newly confirmed cases and 59 additional fatalities, bringing countywide totals to 34,017 cases and 477 deaths. A projected 24,741 people had recovered.
As of Sunday, the county's latest update, 575 confirmed coronavirus patients were hospitalized with 193 being treated in intensive care units.
And a spokesperson for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center said that for the past nine days, San Bernardino County — like Riverside County — has seen a decline in coronavirus hospitalizations following a rapid increase following Memorial Day weekend.
Due to delays in state reporting, Ventura County did not release data related to case counts Tuesday, though health officials reported one additional fatality, bringing the county's coronavirus death toll to 77.
As of Monday, there were 7,344 confirmed cases with a reported 4,139 recoveries. Health officials said they expected to release updated case information Wednesday.
Health officials also reported 79 people remained hospitalized Tuesday, with 21 being treated in intensive care units.
As of Tuesday evening, 375,518 Riverside County residents had been tested, 257,042 San Bernardino County residents had been tested.
