The number of people hospitalized with a coronavirus infection in San Diego County has risen to 224, an increase of 24 over the previous day, according to the latest state data released Tuesday.
Of those patients, 26 were being treated in intensive care, up from 24 the previous day.
The number of statewide COVID-positive patients increased by 98 to 2,581.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, San Diego County has recorded 935,554 cases of COVID-19 and 5,557 deaths linked to the virus, according to San Diego County Public Health.
The county reported 2,298 cases and 14 fatalities in its latest report last Thursday.
Local health officials continue to urge caution as winter approaches and three highly communicable respiratory viruses remain present in the community. In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the county is seeing an early spike of flu and respiratory syncytial virus cases.
County health officials have announced a collaboration with regional medical providers to support their response to the recent influx in illnesses.
"Health care providers are experiencing the effects of these viruses right now in regional medical centers and clinics across our bi-national region," UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said last week. "UC San Diego Health was an early leader nationally in COVID response due to its medical expertise and innovative partnerships with researchers, business and community leaders and government agencies.
"Leveraging the valuable lessons learned from the pandemic, I am confident San Diego will continue to be a model city for public health response through cooperation, transparency and the willingness to share resources," he said.
The Health and Humans Services Agency urged San Diegans to get vaccinated now, as both the flu and COVID vaccines take two weeks to become fully effective.
