San Bernardino County erases reported jump in COVID-19 deaths, cites state error

The huge jump in reported deaths from COVID-19 that San Bernardino County reported Friday, July 30 — more than doubling the previous daily record — was a mistake, county officials said Monday, Aug. 2.

A state error is to blame for adding 224 deaths — with dates of death going back as far as 16 months — county spokesman David Wert said Monday.

The county now reports 4,858 deaths caused by COVID-19. That’s seven more than the total had been the day before the influx of deaths.

State officials had also warned the county to expect a continued climb in deaths over the next several days, as older deaths were added to the total, but that increase is no longer expected, Wert said.

The number of tests for coronavirus was also reduced by 107,090, which Wert said also correcting a state error.

Neighboring counties didn’t experience any such jump.

The county’s numbers are still worsening.

The number of new cases confirmed this week is 69% higher than the number last week, and the number of patients hospitalized with a confirmed case of COVID-19 grew by 41%.

The number of vaccine doses administered rose by 20%, including vaccinating the one-millionth county resident, in the past week.

Here are the latest numbers. Vaccination and hospitalization data comes from the state and is as of Sunday, Aug. 1. Other numbers were reported by the county Monday.

San Bernardino County

Vaccinations

1,837,858 doses administered so far to county residents
36,586 doses reported in the past week
1,012,586 residents have received at least one dose
876,861 of those residents are fully vaccinated

Confirmed cases

308,052 total
3,531 reported in the past week
299,028 of the total cases are estimated to be resolved (living patients who tested positive more than 10 days ago)

Deaths