More than 7,000 San Bernardino County residents have now died from COVID-19, the county reported Tuesday (April 26). County spokesman David Wert said, “7,000 is a very sad milestone that signifies how tragic and sweeping this pandemic has been for San Bernardino County and the entire world.” For the past two days, County hospitals have reported only 28 patients with COVID-19, the lowest number since tracking began in March 2020. While the County has seen a very slight increase in the number of cases being reported in the past few weeks, hospitalizations remain low. Of the 7,036 COVID-19 deaths reported so far only one of those people died this month, and only 16 died last month. The deadliest period of the pandemic was the previous winter’s surge: Almost 2,900 County residents died in December 2020 and January 2021. San Bernardino County’s vaccination rate remains relatively low — just 66% of eligible residents have received at least one dose, compared to about 83% in California and 82% in the U.S. A report released Tuesday by the CDC said that about 58% of Americans show signs of having had a coronavirus infection. If those trends were applied to the Inland Empire, it would mean roughly 1.3 million people in San Bernardino County have been infected with the virus.
