(Cases Surge to 107)
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Riverside County health officials report 48 more coronavirus cases today and two new deaths, including the first outside of the Coachella Valley, bringing the countywide death toll to eight and the number of cases to 107. The latest death was a man in his 70s living in an area public health officials call the county’s mid-region, which includes Banning, Hemet and Anza, according to Jose Arballo, senior public information specialist with the Riverside University Health System.
Another death was reported earlier Wednesday in the Coachella Valley. Wednesday’s increase in cases was the largest. The first case was reported March 8. Of the 107 cases, 24 were determined to have been acquired locally, four were travel-associated and 79 are under investigation to verify origin. Members of the California National Guard on Wednesday began setting up a temporary hospital at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio in anticipation of an expected surge of coronavirus cases.
The 125-bed “federal medical station’ will be equipped with allnecessary equipment and will help ease the burden on the local hospital system, said Brooke Federico, Riverside County’s public information officer. It is expected to take 10 days to build the facility, which is set to remain open for eight weeks, officials said. Another temporary hospital will soon be set up in western Riverside County, Federico said. That site will have another 125 beds, but additional information, including the location, was not provided.
Late Tuesday night, officials reported an employee at an Amazon fulfillment center in Moreno Valley tested positive for the virus. “It is not known if the worker lives in the city of Moreno Valleybecause everyone’s personal medical information is considered private,” Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Alberto Gutierrez said.
“The worker is undergoing treatment, and several co-workers have been directed to self-quarantine and are under observation by health officials.”
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