San Diego County public health officials Thursday reported 325 new COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths from the illness, raising the county's cumulative totals to 39,446 cases and 700 deaths.
Five men died between Aug. 1 and 31, and their ages ranged from mid-40s to early 90s. All had underlying medical conditions.
Of 9,031 tests reported Thursday, 4% returned positive, maintaining the county's 14-day rolling positive testing rate at 3.8%, well below the state's 8% guideline. The seven-day average number of tests performed in the county is 7,190.
Of the total positive cases in the county, 3,169 — or 8% — have required hospitalization since the pandemic began, and 767 — or 1.9% — were admitted to an intensive care unit.
County health officials reported two new community outbreaks Thursday, bringing the number of outbreaks in the past week to 17. The outbreaks were in a business and a restaurant/bar setting.
The number of community outbreaks remains well 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 in a setting and in people of different households in the past 14 days.
San Diego State University reported Wednesday it has recorded 64 student COVID-19 infections since the semester began last week, leading the university to immediately move all in-person classes to an online format for the next four weeks.
While the majority of those are unrelated cases, a few are related to "off-campus, non-educational" activities, said Dr. Eric McDonald, the county's director of epidemiology. Close contacts of all the students, including roommates and family members, have been notified.
