San Diego County health officials report surge in new COVID-19 cases

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – San Diego County is grappling with a new rise in COVID-19 cases with two back to back days of increases.

As county residents leave their homes more often and return to their jobs, restaurants, gyms and beaches, our exposure to the virus will increase. That may be one of many reasons why the county reported elevated rates of infection this weekend.

A seven percent increase in new COVID- 19 cases was reported on Saturday. A five percent increase was reported on Sunday. The seven percent figure represents the county’s single largest one-day jump in coronavirus cases.

The positive rate for new cases is typically in the range of two to three percent.

Health officials said some of the rise in new cases may be explained by a testing glitch this week, forcing a delay in releasing a large batch of results.

Another area which is drawing extra scrutiny is the number of community outbreaks, which is defined as three of more cases in a single setting.

The county has outlined 13 triggers or “red flags” that could cause the county to walk back or modify its reopening plans. The metric for community outbreaks is one of those triggers.

Last Thursday, the county raised alarms about eight outbreaks, which exceeded the trigger threshold of seven outbreaks falling in a seven day period.

As of the latest briefing on June 22, the county reported three more community outbreaks, bringing the present total to ten. The latest three outbreaks occurred in businesses.

Even though the county hasn’t seen a surge of new cases like this before, other key statistics are holding firm; the rate of hospitalizations and ICU cases in the county are stable.