Health officials in San Francisco on Thursday reported an increase of just six new cases of COVID-19 and no additional fatalities from the deadly new disease, but there were new cases among two vulnerable communities in the city.
The city’s case count grew to 1,019, with outbreaks at the Multi-Service Center South shelter and Laguna Honda Hospital accounting for 12% of the known cases in the city.
Officials reported one new case at each site. At MSC-South, a shelter that housed upward of 340 people before the virus infiltrated the city’s largest congregate-living facility, 93 residents and 10 staff members have tested positive for the virus. At Laguna Honda, where about 750 long-term care patients live, 15 staff members and four residents have tested positive.
Labs in the city have received results from nearly 3,000 tests in the past week, a 25% increase in testing capacity over the previous week. About 11.9% of samples this week have come back positive vs. about 14.2% in the week prior.
On Wednesday, the city announced plans for extensive contact-tracing in partnership with the University of California-San Francisco. Gov. Gavin Newsom said that would be one of six key pillars to reopening the state.
The number of patients in city hospital beds remained stagnant, but those requiring intensive care units fell by three, to 25 of the 88 total hospitalized.
The death toll in the city remained at 17, after reporting two new coronavirus-related casualties on Wednesday. The Bay Area experienced its deadliest reporting day Wednesday, adding 23 new deaths, according to data compiled by this news organization. Across the state, there were more than 27,000 confirmed cases and 878 deaths as of Wednesday evening.
