Infection rate spikes, over 1K new cases in county

There were over 1,100 new covid-19 cases in Kern County this week, Kern County Public Health’s Michelle Corson reported.

This brings the total confirmed cases to date to 175,585 in the county.

There are no new deaths in the county being reported on Tuesday and a total of 1,936 covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

On Jan. 4 Shafter had 4,902 infected and on Jan. 11 Shafter had 5,087 infected.

On Jan. 4 Wasco had 7,173 infected and on Jan. 11 Wasco had 7,659 infected.

The 7-day case rate is 58.6 per 100,000 while one week ago, it was 15.2 per 100,000 people.

As of Jan. 9, 1,060,285 doses of the vaccine have been administered to Kern County residents. A total of 449, 994 or 52.6% of Kern’s eligible population have been fully vaccinated.

As of Monday, Jan. 10, Kern County has 199 covid-19-related hospitalizations and 29 of those are in the ICU.

“Local COVID-19 related hospitalizations are increasing, but our ICU numbers are currently remaining relatively stable. We hope this is a sign that Omicron will cause less-serve illness; however, hospitalizations typically trail increases in cases by a couple of weeks, so it is too early to know for sure,” said Brynn Carrigan, director of Kern County Public Health.

Two state-staffed teams are currently in Kern that have expanded both regular and ICU hospital bed capacity, providing approximately 25 ICU beds and 15 med-surge beds to Kern’s capacity. It is anticipated this staffing will remain through February, at which time needs will be reassessed, Corson said.

Additionally, Public Kern also has an ambulance strike team consisting of five ambulances with 10 crew members and a supervisor assisting with ambulance response to 9-1-1 calls through Jan. 20. Finally, Public Health is working to bring three state-staffed strike teams consisting of 12 medical staff for each team assigned to the emergency department in three hospitals to assist with offloading patients from ambulances and patient care in the emergency room. Corson added that these teams are expected to arrive this week and be in Kern through the end of March.

Corson advised that Kern continues to experience high volumes of 9-1-1 calls that are taxing the entire emergency response system.

“We urge our residents to use the emergency system responsibly and call 9-1-1 only in a true emergency such as a heart attack, stroke or other serious health condition,” she said.

“With this recent increase in covid-19 cases in Kern County, and the presence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, it is imperative that we use as many layers of protection to prevent the spread of this disease. Individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease or who are obese are at higher risk of severe complications from covid-19,” said Carrigan. “Even if you do not have underlying chronic conditions, it is imperative that we all keep our bodies healthy and resilient by eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of rest, and exercising regularly.”

Visit http://www.kernpublichealth.com for the latest information on COVID-19 in Kern County, which includes interactive maps of vaccination and testing locations.