Coronavirus hospitalizations in Riverside County edge closer to 500 total patients
There will be no daily coronavirus update from Riverside University Health System - Public Health until Monday, Nov. 30, but hospitalization data was updated on the state's end on Thursday.
The latest hospitalizations continue to see a big day-to-day increase across the county.
Since Wednesday, Riverside County reported 35 more COVID-19 related hospitalizations. This latest increase brings the total number of patients up to 490.
The last time there were this many hospitalizations in Riverside County was July 29. This was as the county was coming out of the June-July surge that saw the peak of hospitalizations.
The most hospitalizations we've had in Riverside County was 548 on July 15.
News Channel 3's Peter Daut spoke with the Chief Medical Officer at Eisenhower Health and the Director of Infectious Disease at Desert Regional Medical Center about the increase in hospitalizations and what could happen after holiday gatherings.
Both noted pretty sharp increases in admissions at their hospitals recently, and both doctors expressed concerns over what may come after the holidays.
"Coming around Thanksgiving, and then Hanukkah, Christmas, etc., times where traditionally people like to gather together, and we know that that is recipe unfortunately for increased spread of the virus. So, that is sort of the perfect storm that I think all of the experts have been cautioning against that the last place we wanted to be, was to head into the holiday season," said Dr. Alan Williamson, Eisenhower Health's Chief Medical Officer
"It will be dependent on what the community does during the holidays. Now, and soon after and, and even in the future I mean, before Thanksgiving, and then before Christmas," said Dr, Shubha Kerkar, the Director of Infectious Disease at Desert Regional.
Dr. Geoffrey Leung, the Chair of the County's Family Medicine Department, said last week that hospitalizations and cases in Riverside County could increase by two-to-three times by this time next month if current infection trends continue.
Leung added that county hospitals are better prepared for a surge this time around as safety protocols are written out and there is a good supply of PPE.
Meanwhile, the number of patients in ICUs fell by 4 since Wednesday. There are currently a total of 112 patients in ICUs for coronavirus across the county. On Monday, the number surpassed 100 for the first time since early August.
The most patients admitted in the ICU for coronavirus was 167 patients on July 30.
(Note - Data will update as days continue to go by)
Riverside County has a total of 81,943 cases, 1,434 deaths, 66,482 recoveries, and 1,047,432 tests conducted.
The Coachella Valley makes up 18,221 of those cases and 411 deaths.
Riverside County metrics for this week (Nov. 24)
- 33.9 new cases per day per 100K (Last week 21.1)
- 27.2 adjusted case rate (Last Week 22.4)
- 9.9% positivity rate (Last Week 8.9)
- N/A Health equity quartile positivity rate (This wasn't available for any counties this week)
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