Newly released data show that dozens of cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in South County, but health officials noted that residents should “behave as if the virus is everywhere.”
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department, starting April 9, has begun releasing geographic data about confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The data is broken down by city. As of April 10, there were 25 confirmed cases in Morgan Hill and 24 cases in Gilroy. In unincorporated areas of the county, there have been less than 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“With various levels of testing in different communities, the city-level data do not necessarily represent the level of spread in these cities,” said Santa Clara County Health Officer Sara Cody. “Whether there are three confirmed cases or 100 hundred confirmed cases in any given city, we must behave as if the virus is everywhere, because it is.”
The county’s COVID-19 “data dashboard” also now includes a breakdown of local coronavirus deaths by race and ethnicity. Of the 47 total reported deaths, 36 percent of COVID-19 fatalities were Latino/Hispanic, and 34 percent were white. Twenty-three percent of the county’s COVID-19 deaths were Asian patients.
African-American and “other” ethnicities each account for less than 5 percent of the total deaths, according to the county’s data.
Countywide, there have been 1,442 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The vast majority of these cases—958—were located in the city of San Jose, the largest and most populous city in the county.
A total of 13,360 residents of Santa Clara have been tested for COVID-19.
Local public health officials think community transmission is widespread throughout the county. Limited testing capacity means case counts represent only a small portion of actual cases within each city, according to county staff.
The county does not have complete or accurate racial/ethnic breakdowns of confirmed cases. Additional details about confirmed cases will be released as they become available, county staff said.
“The county recognizes that social determinants of health, including race/ethnicity, employment, and income may affect the distribution of cases and the severity of cases across the community. The county and its community partners are actively working together to support and provide needed resources to communities who may be more vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19,” reads a press release from the public health department.
