Kern County Public Health: Latest COVID-19 facts as of Feb. 1

• There are 970 newly reported confirmed cases in Kern County bringing our total confirmed cases to date to 215,929.

• There is one new death being reported today and a total of 2,013 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

• The 7-day case rate is 146 per 100,000.

• As of Jan. 31, 1,112,388 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Kern County residents. 460,241 or 53.8% of Kern’s eligible population and 50% of Kern’s total population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

• As of Feb. 1, Kern County has 307 COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 49 are in the ICU.

On Jan. 31, the FDA approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, named “Spikevax,” for adults ages 18 and older. Spikevax is approved to be administered as two doses given one month apart. The vaccine still has an emergency use authorization in place for booster shots, additional doses, and mix-and-match shots with the other COVID-19 vaccines.

Public Health continues to recommend that any individual utilizing a COVID-19 self-test that tests positive to contact their healthcare provider and report positive results by following the instructions on the home test kit or to Kern County Public Health at http://www.kernpublichealth.com/covidhomeresults.

In addition to our countywide infrastructure of partner testing sites, we coordinate mobile COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites throughout the county and a map with this information can be found on our website http://www.kernpublichealth.com.

“We are optimistic that this fourth surge peaked and that disease transmission is on the downward trend,” says Brynn Carrigan, Director of Kern County Public Health. “It is encouraging to see that over the past week, Kern’s case rate has decreased from 178.3 to 146/100,000 people as of today. We appreciate the ongoing efforts of our community to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and achieving the exciting milestone of 50% of Kern’s total population being fully vaccinated.”

While we have begun to see a slight decrease in our daily cases, we urge our community to continue to utilize as many layers of protection to prevent the spread of COVID-19 which include:

• Getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

• Getting your COVID-19 booster as soon as eligible.

• Wearing a mask while in indoor public settings.

• Staying home when sick.

• Washing your hands often.

• Getting tested before gathering or traveling.

• Gathering outside or increasing ventilation when indoors.

• Eating a well-balanced diet and exercising regularly.