Riverside, San Bernardino Counties Surpass 270K Total COVID-19 Cases

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties all reported additional deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus Thursday.

Riverside County health officials reported 1,615 newly confirmed cases and 55 additional fatalities, bringing countywide totals to 270,105 cases and 3,058 deaths. Of those who contracted the illness, 195,286 had recovered.

There were a reported 1,191 coronavirus patients hospitalized Thursday, 317 of whom were being treated in intensive care units — a decrease in overall hospitalizations from Wednesday, but an increase in ICU admissions.

San Bernardino County health officials reported 1,875 newly confirmed cases and 30 additional fatalities, bringing countywide totals to 271,189 cases and 1,776 deaths. Of those who contracted the illness, 258,196 had recovered.

County health officials said that death counts were expected to increase by a large amount over the coming week as the result of a backlog that occurred between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7. Officials also said that laboratory results might also not be fully accurate due to an issue with the state's reporting system.

Both of these issues were expected to be fixed in the coming days.

There were 1,164 coronavirus patients hospitalized as of Wednesday, 284 of whom were being treated in intensive care units — a decrease in overall hospitalizations from the day before, but an increase in ICU admissions.

Ventura County health officials reported 864 newly confirmed cases and 15 additional fatalities, bringing the countywide total to 68,397 cases and 579 deaths. Of those who contracted the illness, 63,289 had recovered.

There were 373 coronavirus patients hospitalized Thursday, 88 of whom were being treated in intensive care units — a decrease in overall hospitalizations from Wednesday, but an increase in ICU admissions.

As of Thursday evening, 2,156,382 Riverside County residents, 2,175,604 San Bernardino County residents and 945,491 Ventura County residents had been tested for COVID-19.