77 new coronavirus cases reported in Sacramento County for biggest one-day jump yet
Sacramento County on Tuesday reported its biggest increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in a single day, with 77 new reported infections, as well as one additional death.
The county now reports a total of 816 cases and 28 fatalities due to the coronavirus, according to the Sacramento County public health department’s newly established COVID-19 dashboard, which went live Tuesday morning.
The latest death came in Rancho Cordova, the suburban city’s first reported coronavirus fatality.
The increase of 77 is the biggest one-day total by volume, and represents a 10.4 percent increase from Monday’s reported total of 739. The previous biggest jump came between last Thursday and last Friday, when 48 new infections were disclosed by the county for about a 7 percent surge.
It should be noted, though, that a large, one-day spike in confirmed cases can be attributed not just to rapid spread of the virus, but also to a combination of potential other factors such as more widespread testing and possible lag times in the returns of test results.
Very low numbers of new cases were reported over this past weekend, according to the new county dashboard, which will be updated each Monday and Thursday with a chart tracking the reported case total as of each calendar day. That chart shows that Sacramento County confirmed just five new cases between Friday and Saturday, and one lone case between Saturday and Easter Sunday. The average since last Friday, therefore, is fewer than 30 new cases a day.
More than half of Sacramento County’s cases (457 of 816) and exactly half of the fatalities (14 of 28) have come in the city of Sacramento as of Tuesday. The state capital makes up about 500,000 of the county’s 1.5 million residents, according to census data.
Of the remaining 14 coronavirus deaths, eight have come in unincorporated areas, three have been in Elk Grove, two were in Citrus Heights and the most recent fatality was in Rancho Cordova.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 11:47 AM.
