Turlock has become the hotspot in Stanislaus County for COVID-19 activity with some of the highest number of cases located in two of the town's zip codes, according to new data from the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency.
Stanislaus County has had 488 cases of coronavirus, with 152 happening in Turlock. Of the 488 cases, 19 have died, 345 are presumed recovered and 143 are presumed active. Within the last 24 hours, the county has recorded 12 new cases.
Of the 19 deaths, 61 percent were female and 39 percent were male. Eighteen percent were between the ages of 50 to 64 years old and 82 percent were 65 years or older.
Turlock's designation as a hotspot is largely from the outbreak at the Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which has had 95 residents and 38 staff members test positive for COVID-19. Not all of those individuals list Turlock as their permanent town of residence. Of the 19 deaths in the county, 11 have been current and former residents of TNRC.
The county's first death happened on April 10, with the most deaths (3) happening on April 27. All of the deceased had underlying health issues, according to the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency. The health department has not provided any information about what type of health conditions the deceased had experienced.
Contact transmission is responsible for the majority of cases in Stanislaus County, accounting for 346 cases. Community transmission was responsible for 127 cases and travel accounted for 15 cases.
Turlock has the most cases in the county at 152. Modesto has 121 reported cases, followed by 54 in Ceres and 43 in Patterson. Stanislaus County District 5 has 24 cases and District 3 has 20 cases. Riverbank and Newman each have 12 cases and District 2 has 11. District 1 has 7 cases, as does Waterford. Oakdale and Hughson each have six cases and District 4 has four cases.
The neighborhoods with the zip code of 95382, which includes parts of Turlock, had the most cases in the county with 104. The was followed by the neighborhoods in the 95380 zip code, also in Turlock, which had 55 cases. The area with the zip code 95316, which includes Denair, had less than 10 cases, according to the SCHSA data.
Individuals 20 years old or younger make up 5 percent of the cases in Stanislaus County. Those between the ages of 21 years to 30 years represent 11 percent of the cases. People between the ages of 31 years to 40 years account for 20 percent of the cases and those from 41 years to 50 years make up 21 percent of the cases. Individuals between 51 years to 60 years represent 20 percent of the cases and those from 61 to 70 years are 10 percent of the cases. People from 71 years to 80 years represent 8 percent of the cases and those 81 years to 90 years account for 5 percent of the cases. Those 91 years and older make up 1 percent of the cases.
The cases are split 50/50 among men and women.
The data from the SCHSA showed infections were disproportionally hitting the Latino community. Latinos make up 47 percent of the county's population, but accounted for 64 percent of the infections. Whites make up 41 percent of the county population and had 23 percent of the cases. African-Americans account for 3 percent of the population and 4 percent of the county's cases. Five percent of Stanislaus County's population is Asian, while they account for 6 percent of the COVID-19 cases. Pacific Islanders make up 1 percent of the population and 1 percent of the cases. The remaining 2 percent of cases were attributed to other races, which the SCHSA said accounts for 3 percent of the population.
Stanislaus County has seen a total of 96 people hospitalized with COVID-19, with 39 of those currently in a hospital. Of those, five are in ICU.
Stanislaus County has 52 percent of hospital beds available, 41 percent of ICU beds open and 76 percent of the ventilators available for use.
Friday saw the enactment of new guidelines under the stay-at-home order, which now allows for dog grooming, drive-in movies and curbside pick-up or delivery for retail stores. The Board of Supervisors approved the new guidelines on Tuesday. They also included additional outdoor activities like boot camps, yoga and fitness exercises that don't include shared equipment and can provide for more than six feet of social distancing.
The new guidelines, however, do not mean everything is back to normal and the Turlock Police Department said they will continue enforcement of the stay at home order when applicable, though they prefer education first, according to Turlock Police Chief Nino Amirfar.
"Our first action is to educate, by either verbally advising individuals or mass education, by means of social media or press releases," Amirfar said. "If these types of educational enforcements are still not sufficient to deter the unwanted behavior and we continue to receive complaints, we will provide direct correspondence in the form of a letter advising of the unwanted behavior and directing an immediate stop to it, or person(s) may face additional consequences."
