Kern County Public Health reports 160 new COVID-19 cases, 1 new death in its weekly update (copy)

May 18—Kern County Public Health reported 160 new coronavirus cases and one new death from the virus Thursday in its weekly update. The numbers represent cases reported to Public Health, but don't include those who have used only home tests that aren't reported to county officials.

The new cases bring the total number reported in Kern County residents since the start of the pandemic to 313,868, with 2,651 deaths.

There have been 6,245 confirmed cases of the omicron variant, and 4,156 cases of the delta variant in the county. Kern County Public Health labeled omicron a "variant of concern."

According to the state, 12 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Kern County as of May 12, the most recent figure available. The state data indicated five patients were hospitalized in intensive care units as of May 12. The numbers haven't been updated in a week.

Since Jan. 21, 2021, the first date a resident of Kern was considered fully vaccinated, a total of 70.82% of all cases have been reported in unvaccinated individuals and 83.10 of all hospitalizations have occurred among the unvaccinated. The percentage of vaccinated people who tested positive for COVID-19 is 12.96 and the percentage of vaccinated individuals who were hospitalized is 0.16%.

The public can find more data on Kern County Public Health Services' COVID-19 dashboard at https://kernpublichealth.com/covid-19_dashboard.

The health department is reminding residents they can find testing locations by going to kernpublichealth.com, clicking on the COVID-19 button and looking for "find a testing site near you."

The public can go to https://kernpublichealth.com/coronavirus-vaccine/ for current vaccination information.

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