Fourth Sonoma County resident dies from complications of COVID-19

The latest death, reported as an elderly person according to the county, comes as the local caseload topped 300 over the weekend.|

The coronavirus has claimed the life of a fourth Sonoma County resident, county health officials said Monday morning. And like each of the others, the victim was an elderly resident.

“It signifies that we’re not out of the woods,” Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said Monday during a conference call with The Press Democrat’s editorial board.

“Essentially we’re having more cases every day,” she said. “We’re reporting somewhere in between 5 and 15 cases every day and have been pretty steadily, partly because we’re testing more people and partly because COVID is there and it’s easily transmitted.”

The person’s age, gender place of residence and they way they contracted the virus were not disclosed. The county has repeatedly declined to provide such details about local COVID deaths.

The death comes about a week after the county reported its third death on May 3. Prior to that, the virus had not been linked with a death since April 11. All deaths so far have been of people said to be age 65 or older.

Mase on Monday echoed a finding reported recently by public health epidemiologists - that a good deal of viral transmission is occurring in people’s homes.

“Remember, if you’re a household contact, you’re very likely to have been infected by your household members,” Mase said.

“And so when people especially over 65 or those with underlying conditions get COVID, the outcomes can be dire, and that again is at the root of what we’re trying to do to protect our vulnerable populations,” she said. “And I think the death simply underlines the fact that that’s what we’re trying to do.”

In Sonoma County, there have been 309 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the county’s latest COVID-19 data. Of these, 168 are classified as recovered while 137 are considered active.

There have been 9,605 coronavirus tests conducted in the county.

Testing in Sonoma County has been dramatically increased in recent weeks. Last week, two state-funded testing sites were opened to all residents who need or want a test. The two sites alone have a capacity to process 260 tests and there are plans to double that volume.

Check back for updates on this breaking story.

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