As Covid restrictions roll back, where are RivCo cases now?

Most Covid-19 restrictions have rolled back throughout the Coachella Valley.

Indoor mask mandates have been dropped, vaccinations are no longer required for many events and masks in schools have become a thing of the past.

"I know there’s a desire to get rid of this like I don’t want to talk about Covid anymore. But, it isn’t quite there yet but we’re heading in a direction that’s a positive direction,” said Riverside University Health System Spokesperson Jose Arballo.

Arballo said cases throughout the county have seen a steady decline, with 94 hospitalizations reported countywide on Friday.

“Everything from our case counts to our positivity rate, hospitalizations, ICUs, all of our numbers are heading in a good direction.” However, he said coronavirus cases have increased abroad.

“Whenever something happens overseas or in other countries, that eventually it does come this way," Arballo added, "That still means there's people being impacted by this virus. So we can't let our guard down entirely.”

But after 2 years in a pandemic, Arballo believes we’ll be much better prepared.

“If it does come, that the severity won't be as as difficult because right now we have more people vaccinated than we have in the past, we have more people doing things like wearing mask.”

And with many events coming to the desert in the near future, he says it’s doesn’t hurt to be cautious to stay safe.

“We do recommend people get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask. those are things you can do quite easily and you can enjoy yourself and have fun.”

In the Coachella Valley-

Eisenhower Medical Center has reported 12 Covid-19 patients this week. That's a significant decline from their peak in January 2021 when the hospital had around 180 Covid-19 patients.

Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs continues to report zero COVID-19 patients in-house on Friday. The first time since the start of the pandemic.

The hospital has reported a big decrease in COVID-19 patients in the past month. The January-February spike led to the hospital reporting close to its highest patients total.

“It's taken a long time to get to this point," said Chief Operating Officer Mike Ditoro, “While it creates a sense of relief. You know, we remain ready, we remain prepared.”

Ditoro says moving forward, “We just we urge people to follow just kind of common sense, common sense stuff as a relates to health... We'll stay on top of best practice recommendations as best we can.”

The Desert Care Network has seen little to no cases at all of its hospitals.

Below is graph of Covid-hospitalizations from the beginning of the pandemic to now.

On Friday, JFK Hospital reported just 1 Covid patient and High Desert Medical Center reported zero covid patients in–house.