San Diego – The Cathy Hopper Clairemont Friendship Center will be a new COVID-19 testing, monoclonal antibody, and post-exposure treatment site. This will be the fourth MARC site in San Diego County.
San Diego County public health officials Thursday reported 720 new coronavirus infections and three deaths, and state figures show a decrease in the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
The latest figures bring the cumulative number of infections in San Diego County since the pandemic began to 342,149, and the number of fatalities to 3,929.
The number of county residents hospitalized with the virus decreased to 581, down 12 from Wednesday, according to state data. The number of COVID patients in local intensive care units increased by one to 180.
A total of 21,758 new tests were reported, and the percentage of positive cases over the last seven days was 5.3%.
Nearly 4.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the county, with 2.42 million — or 86.5% of county residents — having received at least one dose. Fully vaccinated county residents now number more than 2.13 million, or around 76.1% of the county’s eligible population.
The COVID-19 positive case rate is 37.1 per 100,000 people for San Diego County, which can be further parsed as 61.9 for unvaccinated and 17.7 for vaccinated residents.
According to the City of San Diego, the testing and treatment at the site will be available to medically eligible people regardless of their health insurance or immigration status.
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“I think it just gives another option for people that are concerned or want to have treatment or testing for COVID it’s an additional option to do that,” San Diegan Greg Myre said.
MARC sites provide treatment under an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA to treat people with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.
“Right now we have a treatment called monoclonal antibodies. It’s an infusion of antibodies that have been turned into a therapy,” UC San Diego Infectious Disease Doctor Davey Smith said.
Infectious Disease experts say that monoclonal antibody treatments are not a replacement for vaccination.
Along with the new Clairemont location, there are other MARC sites in Chula Vista, Hillcrest, and Escondido.