San Bernardino County holds the unenviable distinction of falling within the top ten counties in the country in terms of the number of its residents testing positive with COVID 19. According to statistics provided by the National Center For Disease Control, as of late this week, San Bernardino County crossed the threshold of being the tenth county in the United States with over 100,000 coronavirus cases.
As of today, according to health officials, there have been 100,733 county residents confirmed to have come down with COVID-19.
The rate of infection locally has grown so acute that San Bernardino County emergency system operators are no longer dispatching ambulances in response to the lion’s share of what come in as emergency medical calls. Unless those seeking emergency response because of coronavirus symptoms are critical, the call centers are vectoring those seeking assistance to other modes of treatment, or referring them to their family/normal care physicians. Part of the rationale for that strategy is to guard against exposing emergency and medical personal to virus carriers who could infect them and thus render them unable to function in their capacities
Those believed to have contracted COVID-19 under the age of 65 who do not have complicating or problematic medical conditions are being told to remain in place at home, to isolate and get medical treatment in accordance with that provided by their insurance carriers.
In general, even when there are no grounds to believe the caller is infected with the coronavirus, those who are not in dire danger are being told to seek care outside of that provided by emergency personnel.
The states of South Dakota, Oregon, North Dakota, Montana, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Delaware, Alaska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont all have recorded fewer COVID-19 cases than San Bernardino County. As the fifth largest county in California population-wise, San Bernardino County has the highest number of coronavirus cases per capita in all of the state’s counties. San Bernardino County has the second highest number of cases among all 58 of the Golden State’s counties. Only Los Angeles County, with 10.11 million residents and slightly more than 421,000 confirmed COVID-19 infectees, has more coronavirus cases than San Bernardino County, in terms of sheer numbers. Yet, by comparison of percentages of the population afflicted, San Bernardino County, with 4.545 percent of its 2.2 million residents having contracted the disease, exceeds the 4.164 percent infection rate in Los Angeles County.
The county health department reported 1,629 new coronavirus cases and 21 deaths attributable to the virus today. Of the 100,733 San Bernardino County residents who contracted COVID-19, 1,175 of those have died since February.
At present, there are 904 patients hospitalized with the coronavirus in San Bernardino County hospitals, with 197 of those in intensive care units.
The number of positive tests in a given area, political subdivision or region does not necessarily reflect the actual seriousness of the pandemic there, as there is a wide disparity of testing rates from one location to another. In San Bernardino County, a little more than one in nine – 11.29 percent – of those who have been tested so far have shown to be infected.
For state officials, the degree to which local hospitals are taxed – or more properly stated, overtaxed – is serving as a measure by which regions and counties are being subjected to more stringent measures to control the pandemic. Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would be putting into effect regional stay-at-home orders based on the number of hospital beds available to accommodate the cases in which patients are deemed to be critical ill with COVID-19. The greater a county or region’s availability of hospital capacity, the less draconian the restrictions imposed in that particular district.
The infection rate in San Bernardino County presages that some very tight restrictions will be applied here in the coming three to four weeks, lasting up to and well into the Christmas holiday. Such measures are imperative, Governor Newsom’s office insisted, as a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases that might occur in as little time as one to two days could overwhelm the availability of treatment capacity in the Southland’s hospitals.
San Bernardino County has not been able to break out of the most restrictive tier – purple – of the state’s four-tier, color-coded reopening plan. Under updated guidelines issued by Governor Newsom toward the end of November, San Bernardino county residents are subject to a 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. curfew.