San Luis Obispo County reports the deaths of eight more people who tested positive for COVID-19.
Health officials say the patients were between 60 and 100 years old.
San Luis Obispo County had 82 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
The county also added a record 576 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the county’s total number to 10,178 confirmed cases as of December 30.
Public health officials in San Luis Obispo County partially attribute the large number of new cases to a remaining number of cases in the state database. On Tuesday, county health officials said a change in the way the state assigns suspicious cases to a county caused a delay in reporting at the local level.
Between Friday and Tuesday, SLO County reported only 131 new COVID-19 cases, while the state website COVID-19 showed 883 new cases in the county in the same time period.
County health officials said they are examining these cases and expect the total number of confirmed cases in the county to exceed 10,000 this week.
Currently, 58 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in San Luis Obispo County, including 11 patients who are in the ICU. Another 2,187 people are recovering at home, and health officials say 7,837 people have recovered.
According to the online dashboard COVID-19 of the state of California, there are currently 19 ICU beds available in San Luis Obispo County.
Breakdown of cases by location:
- Paso Robles – 2,264
- San Luis Obispo – 2,152
- Atascadero – 897
- 733. Arroyo Grande
- California Men’s Colony (detainees) – 726
- Nipomo – 695
- Grover Beach – 414
- Ocean – 353
- 308. Templeton
- San Miguel – 286
- Poly Horse (campus residents) – 256
- Bears – 208
- Gulf of Morro – 201
- Pismo Beach – 155
- Atascadero State Hospital (patients) – 124
- Shandon – 89
- Saint Margaret – 84
- Cambria – 72
- Creston – 43
- Cayucos – 43
- Avila Beach – 16
- San Simeon – 8
The location of an additional 37 cases is under investigation, and another 14 are listed as “other”, which includes communities with less than five cases. The Department of Public Health does not identify these locations.
COVID-19 community testing sites are currently open to the public in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Morro Bay, Grover Beach and Nipomo.
Appointments are required in all locations. Click here to schedule an appointment.
For more information on the county’s COVID-19 response, visit readyslo.org.