San Diego County reports record 2,867 COVID-19 cases, 23 deaths

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - San Diego County health officials reported 2,867 new COVID-19 infections Friday, Dec. 11, a new record, eclipsing the previous one of 2,287 last Friday by nearly 800 cases, marking more than 100,000 total cases in the county since the pandemic began.

Friday marks the third consecutive day more than 2,000 new cases were reported, with 2,050 reported Thursday and 2,104 Wednesday. It is also the 11th day with more than 1,000 new cases and the 19th of the last 22 to reach that mark. It is just the fifth time the daily cases have crossed 2,000 -- all of which have come in the past week.

Locally, 1,135 cases had been recorded in Fallbrook, 115 in Pala, and 102 in Bonsall. There have been 73 new cases reported in Fallbrook in the past 7 days, 7 in Bonsall, and there was no data for Pala.

Friday's data, along with 23 deaths, raises the region's cumulative totals to 102,466 confirmed infections and 1,137 deaths.

Of 25,002 tests reported Friday, 11 percent returned positive, raising the 14-day average of new cases to 8% -- a record.

The number of hospitalizations continued to rise, with 38 people hospitalized, and four patients put in intensive care units. The COVID-19-related hospitalizations increased to 965 -- 249 in ICUs. Since the pandemic began, 5,064 or 4.9% of cases have been hospitalized due to coronavirus, 1,098, or 1.1% have been sent to the ICU.

The county's hospitals still have 18% of their ICU beds available, down from 21% Thursday. The state now estimates the ICU bed availability in the 11-county Southern California region at 6.2%, down from 7.7% on Thursday.

Of the 4,627 people hospitalized in the county, 20% are due to COVID-19, and 44% of ICU patients. This compares to 7.7% and 20%, respectively, one month ago.

The county has seen a 199% increase in COVID-19 related hospitalizations in the past 30 days and a 148% increase in ICU patients in the same time frame. The previous peak in hospitalizations, in mid-July, topped out around 400 patients.

Ten new community outbreaks were reported Friday. A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households over the past 14 days.