Where to find COVID-19 stats

Recent statistics for the COVID-19 Pandemic numbers in Kern County and, of course, Tehachapi can be "old news" by the time we receive them.

The local news stations update the County numbers daily; but how do you find out how many cases are in Tehachapi?

The Kern County Public Health Services Department has a dashboard on their website http://kernpublichealth.com/covid-19_dashboard that is updated daily giving the statistics for all of Kern County. If you scroll down, beneath the stats is a blue rectangle labeled "Interactive GIS Map." Select that, then click on the 93561 zip code and in the upper left hand corner you will see the total number of positive cases in Tehachapi and the number of recoveries. As of July 29, that number is 437. 

[Editor's note: As of August 10, Tehachapi residents confirmed positive for COVID-19 now number 707, including 182 inmates from CCI, according to the websites linked in this article.]

According to Michelle Corson, Public Relations Officer for Kern County Public Health Services, the population of CCI in Cummings Valley is also included in the Tehachapi count.

"CCI does have their own dashboard," Corson said, "and it will often reflect positive cases in the prison before the cases are displayed on our dashboard."

To get a picture of the number of cases in Tehachapi, go to http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking, look for CCI and subtract the number of cases from the Tehachapi total. Currently, a large portion of Tehachapi's cases are from CCI. 

Other factors are occasionally discovered that also can distort the statistics. Last week it was learned that a recent jump in positive numbers was affected by delayed test results that could be as much as two weeks old. This has now been taken into account on the Kern County Public Health website.

Remember to stay vigilant. Practice safe social distancing and wear a face mask where necessary to help stop the spread of COVID-19.