The number of new COVID-19 cases continued to increase, with more than 200 infections reported for the seventh consecutive day, San Diego County public health officials announced Wednesday.
In Wednesday's report, 275 San Diego County residents were infected with the virus, increasing the total to 285,268.
Four new deaths were reported in the past week, increasing the region's total to 3,786. Three men and one woman died between July 2 and Saturday, according to the county's weekly report.
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Three of the deceased were in their 80s and one was in their 70s. All had underlying medical conditions.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, county public health officer, said on Tuesday the county is "now seeing about double the number of cases that were being reported a month ago," which has led to a 46% increase in hospitalizations and 10% increase in intensive care unit admissions in the past few weeks.
"We expect further increases in ICU admissions since they lag behind the trend in cases and hospitalizations," Wooten said.
The number of San Diego County residents hospitalized with COVID-19 was 116 as of Wednesday's report, an increase of eight from the previous report. There are 27 people in intensive care unit beds, an increase of five from the previous report. There are 50 available, staffed ICU beds in San Diego County.
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Close to 4.15 million vaccine doses have been administered in San Diego County, and more than 2.22 million or 79.5% of county residents 12 and older are partially vaccinated. Close to 1.92 million or 68.4% of that age cohort are fully vaccinated.
San Diego County's case rate is 3.7 cases per 100,000 residents as of Wednesday's report, up from 2.5% last week.
A total of 7,097 tests were reported to the county, and the percentage of new positive cases was 3.9%. The 14-day rolling percentage of positive cases among tests is 2.9%, nearly double last week's 1.5%.
Ten new community outbreaks were confirmed in the past seven days: six in restaurant/bar settings, one in a business setting, one in an emergency services setting, one in a government setting and one in a retail setting.
