Delta variant continues surge as 100+ admitted to SD County hospitals

SAN DIEGO - San Diego County public health officials today reported five deaths and 104 new hospitalizations --discouraging news as the Delta variant continues to surge.

The newly hospitalized patients bump the county total to more than 700 people currently in the hospital with the illness. One month ago, that

number was 179. Patients in intensive care units increased by one to 143, but that still marks a increase of nearly 100 people since July 19, when 45 people were in ICU beds with COVID-19.

San Diego County's case rate per 100,000 residents is 28.7 for the general population, but that can be parsed further to just 6 for fully vaccinated residents and 55.7 for those not fully vaccinated. That figure has multiplied more than tenfold since as recently as July 7, when the average daily case rate was just 2.7 per 100,000. Officials expect the number of reported cases to keep increasing as more schools and businesses are requiring COVID testing.

A total of 43 new community outbreaks were confirmed in the past seven days: 12 in business settings, eight in grade school settings, six in

restaurant/bar settings, four in health care settings, three in daycare/preschool/childcare settings, three in retail settings, two in hotel/resort/spa settings, and one each in faith-based, government, restaurant, fitness/gym and community-based settings.

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