April was the least deadly month for COVID in SLO County since last year — why?
In January — at the height of the pandemic — 95 San Luis Obispo County residents died due to COVID-19.
In April, that number was four.
For the first time in months, the number of people who died from coronavirus in SLO County could be counted on one hand.
The decline in deaths in April correlates to a drop in new reported cases across the county.
According to data from the county Public Health Department, April had both the fewest number of deaths and the fewest number of new reported coronavirus cases since October.
This is a positive sign that the county could be approaching that “light at the end of the tunnel” regarding the pandemic, but local public health officials are still cautious.
“We are making progress. However as I always say, we need to do more,” Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said in a media briefing Wednesday. “We continue to not see the rate of decline in our cases that we are seeing in the counties around us. So I ask of our community to not be premature in thinking this pandemic is over. There are places in the country, there are certainly places in the world ... that are still are experiencing grave misfortunes related to this pandemic.”
She added: “We will get there, but we continue to need to do due diligence in the short term.”
What did coronavirus case numbers look like in SLO County in April?
April was the third consecutive month of declining coronavirus numbers in SLO County.
That month, the county reported 688 total new COVID-19 cases, the fewest since before the holiday spike sent local numbers skyrocketing.
The last time SLO County had comparative case numbers was October, when 681 new cases were reported.
October was also one of the least deadly months for coronavirus since early in the pandemic, with only two SLO County residents reportedly dying due to the virus that month.
April comparatively had only four coronavirus deaths, an 80% drop from the 21 reported in March, and almost 96% less than the 95 reported in January.
October was the end of an early-fall lull in local cases, and so far in 2021, SLO County numbers have not dropped below that pre-spike marker — though April’s numbers were exceptionally close, and if May continues the trend, it could soon be a different story.
Vaccines contribute to SLO County downturn
Meanwhile, vaccinations have increased at a steady (if not somewhat slower than expected) pace, meaning more and more SLO County residents are immunized against the virus’ most serious impacts.
As of April 30, an estimated 96,536 SLO County residents have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine (this does not include doses provided outside of the Public Health Department).
In total, roughly 224,572 doses have been distributed in SLO County, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
It’s likely those vaccinations are finally starting to influence local numbers and bring about the drop in new cases, Borenstein said during the media briefing Wednesday.
Though there is “a natural curve somewhat to any outbreak,” Borenstein said, she absolutely thinks that vaccinations have contributed to April’s markedly lower numbers, especially the lower numbers of deaths.
“I do believe vaccination is playing an important part in why we are seeing a drop-off in cases,” she said.
Where were new cases added in SLO County in April?
In the breakdown by city, San Luis Obispo reported the most new cases in April, with 287. That’s a slight increase over the 278 it added in March.
It also represented about 40% of the total number of new cases across the county that month. To date, San Luis Obispo has had 4,275 reported coronavirus cases, including the latest cases in May.
The next highest number of new cases was in Paso Robles, which added 108 cases in April, down from 141 in March. As of Wednesday, Paso Robles has reported 4,157 cases of coronavirus.
These were the only two cities to add more than 100 new coronavirus cases last month, and together they comprised more than half of the county’s new April cases.
Smaller communities reported smaller increases in their case totals, and in general all reported fewer new cases in April than in March.
Only five communities, including San Luis Obispo, reported more new cases in April than in March.
Templeton reported 25 new cases in April, up from 16 in March. Morro Bay had 20 in April, compared to 13 in March. Santa Margarita added 10 in April, up from eight in March. Cambria added seven in April compared to two in March. And Shandon had two new April cases, but none in March.
Separately, Cal Poly reported a total of 372 COVID-19 cases involving students in April.
The university also conducted 60,477 tests. Comparatively, the university reported 195 COVID-19 cases and conducted 33,836 tests in March, with 188 cases and 36,955 tests in February.
How did SLO County compare to rest of Central Coast?
Borenstein noted Wednesday that SLO County’s drop in numbers was not as marked as that in other surrounding counties.
SLO County was the last Central Coast county to enter the orange tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy at the end of April, because its adjusted case rate continued to be just over the threshold for moving to the less restrictive tier.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara County and Monterey County moved into orange on April 20 and April 7, respectively.
In several metrics, SLO County did lag somewhat behind other neighboring counties.
In April, Santa Barbara County — which has a population roughly 1.6 times the size of SLO County — added 990 new cases, according to data from its public health department. Monterey County — which has a population rough 1.5 times the size of SLO County — added 367 in that same time.
When comparing the number of new cases to each county’s total population, SLO County had the highest rate of infection, with 0.24% of the population contracting the virus at that time.
Santa Barbara County was close behind with 0.22% of its population testing positive for coronavirus, while Monterey County performed the best with only 0.08% of its population contracting COVID-19 in April.
When comparing one of the state’s official reopening metrics — adjusted case rate — both Santa Barbara and Monterey counties showed more extreme declines in their numbers than SLO County.
In April, Santa Barbara County’s case rate fell from 6.4 to 4.4 new cases per 100,000 residents, while Monterey’s fell from 4 to 2.2.
Comparatively, San Luis Obispo County’s adjusted case rate went from 6.9 to 6.2. Though the county did apply for and receive an adjustment to the adjusted case numbers, allowing it to go into the orange tier, that new adjusted adjusted number has not been released.
One area where SLO County outperformed its neighbors was in number of deaths.
In April, Santa Barbara County reported 11 new deaths among residents.
Monterey County reported 39 new deaths in April, though many of those were due to a “data cleanup” processing previously uncounted deaths that occurred over the winter months, the county health department said.
Staff writer Mackenzie Shuman contributed to this report.
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