INLAND EMPIRE – (INT) – Riverside and San Bernardino counties continue adding about 1,000 new infections daily, according to the latest Inland Empire COVID-19 statistics.

Riverside County reported twice as many as San Bernardino County Thursday.

When averaged out over 7-days, San Bernardino County’s daily count has dropped to 421 as compared to 786 just a week earlier.

Meantime, 21 more people have died across the Inland Empire bring the pandemic total to 1,260.

Riverside County health officials blame a ‘technical issue’ that’s giving the false impression that number of new COVID-19 infections is slowing.

Electronic laboratory reporting is not being submitted to the state’s CalREDIE’s system in a real-time manner. Riverside County’s positive cases in recent days may appear that the numbers are holding steady or flattening, but that’s simply not true, said Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari.

Hospitalization and death rates are not impacted and are more accurate as they are reported directly to the county through different systems, Saruwatari said Monday.

She warned that because of the glitch “We’re anticipating significant increases in case reporting this week.”

Story Date: August 7, 2020