Congress has not passed another stimulus package, leaving people unsure of how they will pay their rent or mortgage and put food on the table. Since the shutdown in March, local business owners have argued that their business is essential and what gives the state the right to determine what is and is not essential.
As of last week, the county had no plans to take legal action against the state regarding the shutdowns. Outdoor operations will become difficult as we move into winter.
The county returned to the most restrictive purple tier Oct. 20 after it was allowed one extra week in the red tier to see if the county could reduce the case rate. The county had entered the red tier of the state’s tier system Sept. 22. According to the state’s tier system, purple means the virus is widespread and that many nonessential indoor business operations are closed.
The county explained that it “will need to remain in the purple tier for at least three weeks and meet the red tier metrics for two of those weeks before returning to the red tier.”
More testing is needed to push the county back to the red tier. Even though Riverside County is testing more residents per day, the statewide testing median is 239 per 100,000 residents per day.
According to the Riverside University Health System – Public Health (RUHS) website, the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove has a total of 25 reported COVID-19 cases since the outbreak and one death reported. Twenty-two of the 25 people have recovered.
As of press time on Nov. 3, Riverside County has 68,920 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There are 1,322 deaths related to COVID-19 and 61,421 people have recovered. There are 179 individuals being hospitalized and of those 43 are in the intensive care unit (ICU). The county’s positivity rate is 5.6%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 is 10.1.
As of press time on Oct. 27, Riverside County had 66,732 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There were 1,295 deaths related to COVID-19 and 59,516 people had recovered. There were 164 individuals being hospitalized and of those 60 are in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 5.2%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 9.1.
As of press time on Oct. 20, Riverside County had 64,668 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There were 1,273 deaths related to COVID-19 and 58,236 people had recovered. There were 157 individuals being hospitalized and of those 42 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 5.2%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 9.1.
As of press time on Oct. 13, Riverside County had 62,553 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There were 1,258 deaths related to COVID-19 and 56,659 people had recovered. There were 146 individuals being hospitalized and of those 42 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 5.0%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 7.6.
To date, 846,276 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Riverside County, according to RUHS. The two demographics with the highest number of cases are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino.
The county is urging residents and visitors to cover their face, keep 6 feet of distance and wash their hands.
