Kern County Public Health reports 697 new COVID-19 cases, 3 new deaths in its weekly update | News

There have been 5,750 confirmed cases of the omicron variant, and 4,156 cases of the delta variant in the county. Kern County Public Health labeled omicron a “variant of concern.”

According to the state, 47 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Kern County as of Wednesday, the most recent figure available. The state data indicated seven patients were hospitalized in intensive care units as of Wednesday.

Since Jan. 21, 2021, the first date a resident of Kern was considered fully vaccinated, a total 70.95 percent of all cases have been reported in unvaccinated individuals and 83.12 percent of all hospitalizations have occurred among the unvaccinated. The percentage of vaccinated people who tested positive for COVID-19 is 12.74 percent and the percent of vaccinated individuals who were hospitalized is 0.16 percent. 

Broken down by age, 57,126 people under the age of 18 have contracted COVID-19, followed by 174,489 people aged 18 to 49, 50,910 people aged 50 to 64 and 27.696 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.”