Public Health counts COVID cases, but it doesn’t include at-home tests

Plumas News had been reporting COVID case counts, at first daily, then weekly, since that information became available. However, unless the situation dramatically changes, we will no longer be reporting the weekly data — primarily because it only captures the positive PCR tests reported to Plumas County Public Health.

Due to the proliferation of self testing, the majority of  individuals take an at-home antigen test and most who test positive don’t report the results to Public Health. And, even if they do, that positive test is not counted by Public Health. The individual would need to take a PCR test available at their local hospital to verify their positive diagnosis to be included in the official case count.

Over the past three weeks, Public Health has reported a total of 50 positive cases, with that number declining to 10 last week.

Thus far 4,040 cases have been reported in Plumas County, with 129 hospitalizations and 22 deaths. Of those hospitalized, 25 were vaccinated and 104 were unvaccinated.

In looking at the total numbers, slightly more women in Plumas have had the virus than men: 52.23 percent compared to 47.77 percent; but men make up the majority of deaths: 65 percent to 35 percent. Those numbers are borne out nationally as well, with recent studies attributing the higher mortality rate to social factors, rather than biological differences between males and females.

For more demographic information regarding COVID in Plumas County, click here.