By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
COVID claims 191 lives so far in Manteca
covid tests
People are shown lining up for COVID tests Monday in the parking lot of the Manteca Transit Center.

Three more people have died from COVID-19 complications in Manteca.

The deaths bring the number of COVID deaths  in Manteca since the start of the pandemic to 191. There have been 33 deaths in Lathrop and 30 in Ripon. Countywide 1,983 have died from COVID.

The report of the additional deaths came a day after San Joaquin County Public Health Officer Dr. Maggie Park told the Board of Supervisors that the current surge has apparently peaked.

Although COVID-19 case rates, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions are still high, the rates are starting to decrease from 237 to 198.8 cases per 100,000 since Jan. 24.

Park noted that many prediction models show that the Omicron surge appears to be on the decline throughout the San Joaquin Valley area and that case rates and hospitalizations will begin to decline by mid-February but deaths will continue to increase before they peak over the next several weeks.

There are currently 284 people with COVID hospitalized at the seven hospitals in San Joaquin County. Among those are 75 COVID-19 positive people in ICU with 50 of those patients on ventilators.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been 155,165 total COVID-19 cases.

To date, 1,127,574 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to San Joaquin residents. That means 61.5% of San Joaquin County’s total population ise fully vaccinated and 12.4% are partially vaccinated for COVID-19.  

County hospital ICUs are over 130% full, with 58% of hospital ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

“We’ve been through a significant surge in Omicron cases, so it’s good news that our case rates seem to be peaking and on their way down,” Park said. “However, we are still at 198.8 cases per 100,000 which is astoundingly high, so we urge residents to be on their guard because these numbers are still incredibly alarming.”

Park reviewed the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots and their impact on case rates, hospitalizations and deaths. She said that prediction data from multiple sources including Bayesiant revealed that death rates were cut in half due to vaccinations.  



 The county and its partners continue to provide testing and vaccinations communitywide. However, due to the lack of vaccine demand, the Robert Cabral Agricultural Center will soon be closing down its drive-through vaccine lane by Feb. 11. 

Residents are encouraged to check www.SJReady.org or www.MyTurn.ca.gov to find testing and vaccine locations.