San Diego County public health officials reported 720 new coronavirus infections and three deaths Thursday, and state figures show a decrease in the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
The latest figures bring the cumulative number of infections in San Diego County since the pandemic began to 342,149, and the number of fatalities to 3,929.
The number of county residents hospitalized with the virus decreased to 581, down 12 from Wednesday, according to state data. The number of COVID patients in local intensive care units increased by one to 180.
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A total of 21,758 new tests were reported, and the percentage of positive cases over the last seven days was 5.3%.
Nearly 4.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the county, with 2.42 million -- or 86.5% of county residents -- having received at least one dose. Fully vaccinated county residents now number more than 2.13 million, or around 76.1% of the county's eligible population.
The COVID-19 positive case rate is 37.1 per 100,000 people for San Diego County, which can be further parsed as 61.9 for unvaccinated and 17.7 for vaccinated residents.
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More striking is daily hospitalizations which are more than 47 times higher for the unvaccinated -- at 1.9 new daily hospitalizations per 100,000 people -- than for the vaccinated at .04 daily hospitalizations per 100,000.
No-cost COVID-19 vaccines are widely available in the region. They can be found at medical providers, pharmacies, community clinics and county public health centers for people who do not have a medical provider. A list of locations and more information is available at coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine.
