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By Miriam RafterySeptember 17, 2020 (San Diego) – An outbreak of COVID-19 threatens to push San Diego County from the state’s red to the purple tier, a shift that could force temporary closure again of indoor operations at businesses including restaurants, worship services and gyms, also reducing capacity of retail stores to 25%.
County officials had asked Governor Gavin Newsom to exclude the 749 cases in returning San Diego State University students. But the Governor declined, stating, “You can’t isolate as if it’s on an island, a campus community that is part of the larger community. So the answer is no."
The university has stopped in-person classes, asked students to quarantine at home and taken other steps that are slowing the outbreak. Today, only 17 of 174 new cases countywide involved SDSU students.
What’s worrisome for the county is that despite the lowest daily number of coronavirus cases in over a month today, the case rate for the past week is 7.9 per 100,000 population. If that rate stays over 7.0 by next Tuesday, the county would go back to the purple or widespread infection category.
Outbreaks also remain above the trigger of 7 in 7 days; in the past week 20 community outbreaks have been documented including six new ones yesterday--- two in businesses, one in a restaurant, one in a food processing facility, one in a residence and one in a grocery store.
Out of 9,495 test results received in the past day, 1.8% were positive, and the 14-day rolling average of positive cases ticked down to 4.2%.
Six new deaths were reported today, all between ages 60 and 90 with underlying health conditions.
The weekly case rate calculated by the California Department of Public Health on Tuesday was 7.9 per 100,000 population, up from 6.9 a week before. If the rate stays above 7.0 next Tuesday, then San Diego County goes back to Tier 1, the “purple” or widespread infection classification.
However, the university has imposed health restrictions and ended remaining in-person classes. On Thursday, just 17 of the new cases involved San Diego State students.
County Supervisor Greg Cox said Wednesday he was writing a letter to Newsom to ask for considerations in excluding SDSU cases or for other alternatives to avoid rolling back business openings.
But Newsom said he isn’t inclined to overlook the SDSU cases. The governor said the county can’t separate cases at a university because it goes to “what a community by definition is — and that is integrated individuals, and as a consequence, you can’t isolate as if it’s on an island, a campus community that is part of the larger community. So the answer is no.”
County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said it was a difficult decision by Newsom, but the county had to do the best it could from here on out.
“We are in a battle against the coronavirus, not the state of California,” Fletcher said Thursday. “Their public health experts looked at the situation in San Diego closely and made a decision that I understand and respect.”
According to Dr. Eric McDonald, the county’s epidemiology expert, the vast majority of those students live in the 92115 ZIP Code around the university — many just a few blocks off campus. He said that while it is true they are technically in the community at large, they are close enough to campus to make the county’s request to exclude those positive tests from the countywide number a realistic endeavor.
The university has not received any reports of faculty or staff who have tested positive, SDSU health officials said, nor have any cases been traced to classroom or research settings.
SDSU reported 17 COVID-19 cases Thursday.
The latest victims of COVID-19 were four women and two men ranging in age from the early 60s to mid-90s. All had underlying medical conditions.
Six new community outbreaks were reported Thursday for a total of 20 over the past week. The latest outbreaks were at two businesses, a restaurant, a food processing facility, a private residence and a grocery.
Since the first local case in March, there have been 953,964 tests performed in San Diego County, resulting in 43,619 cases and 754 deaths.
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