Kern County Public Health reported 692 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths Thursday. The department releases new numbers weekly; at the height of the pandemic, statistics were reported daily.
The new cases bring the total number reported in Kern County residents since the start of the pandemic to 291,898, with 2,561 total deaths.
There have been 5,241 confirmed cases of the omicron variant, and 4,160 cases of the delta variant in the county. Kern County Public Health labels those as “variants of concern.”
According to the state, 32 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Kern County as of Wednesday, the most recent figure available. The state data indicated six patients were hospitalized in intensive care units as of Wednesday.
Since Jan. 21, 72.20 percent of all cases have been reported in unvaccinated individuals and 83.19 percent of all hospitalizations have occurred among the unvaccinated.
Broken down by age, 54,586 people under the age of 18 have contracted COVID-19, followed by 164,947 people aged 18 to 49, 47,232 people aged 50 to 64 and 24,705 people 65 and older.
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.”
