San Diego County reports 208 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - San Diego County public health officials reported 208 new COVID-19 infections and no new deaths Monday, Sept. 14, bringing the region's total caseload to 42,887, while the number of deaths related to the illness remained at 734.

Of the 5,921 tests reported Monday, 4% returned positive, moving the 14-day rolling average of positive tests to 4.2%, well below the state's 8% guideline. The seven-day average number of tests performed in the county is 7,076.

Of the total positive cases in the county, 3,306 -- or 7.7% -- have required hospitalization since the pandemic began, and 781 -- or 1.8% -- were admitted to an intensive care unit.

Locally, Bonsall has recorded 45 cases, Pala 75, and Fallbrook 497.

On Monday, county health officials reported no new community outbreaks. In the past seven days, 14 community outbreaks were confirmed. The number of community outbreaks remains above the county's goal of fewer than seven in a seven-day span. A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases originating in the same setting and impacting people of different households in the past 14 days.

Under the new state monitoring metrics, San Diego County is currently in Tier 2, also called the Red Tier. San Diego's state-calculated unadjusted case rate was 6.9 per 100,000 residents and the testing positivity percentage was 4.2%.

The state will assess counties weekly, with the next report scheduled Tuesday.

A comprehensive outreach strategy to expand testing access for Latino residents and other communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic started Monday in downtown San Diego.

The program began with a new testing site at the Mexican Consulate at 1549 India St. Starting at 8 a.m., walk-up appointments will continue to be available and will run until 3:30 p.m., according to an announcement Friday from San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, Mexican Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez and other local leaders.

San Diego State University reported 21 new COVID-19 cases among students Monday, bringing the total number of student cases to 642 since the fall semester began Aug. 24.

University officials said they were aware of 638 confirmed cases among students and four probable cases. The university has not received any reports of faculty or staff who have tested positive, SDSU health officials said.

The majority of the cases are students living off-campus in San Diego, according to the university. About 75% of students testing positive live in off-campus housing not managed by the university, with 73% of the cases among the freshman and sophomore classes.

The city of Chula Vista announced Friday it was distributing 25,000 reuseable cotton masks printed with the city logo and website. Residents can pick up the free masks at the Civic Center and Otay Ranch libraries from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Chula Vista police, fire, park rangers and open-space personnel will also be distributing the masks when they come into contact with people without masks.