San Luis Obispo County reported 14 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the county's total to 163 cases as of April 24.
It's the highest one-day increase in cases the county has seen since reporting began on March 14. On Wednesday, eight new cases were reported and seven new cases were reported Thursday after 19 straight days in which the daily county was never higher than four cases.
Of the 163 cases, three patients are currently hospitalized, including one person who is in the ICU.
Health officials say 40 people are recovering at home and 119 people are recovered.
San Luis Obispo County has had one death from COVID-19.
County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein says officials are keeping a close eye on the number of new cases as well as hospitalization rates as they work on a phased plan to reopening the local economy.
She said contact tracing is a hallmark of the county's response and that health officials are investigating every single new case and following up with every known contact of those patients to issue quarantine orders and track their symptoms.
Dr. Borenstein said all but one of the new cases had close contact with someone who was known to be positive, such as someone in their household or a close partner.
Paso Robles continues to have the most cases: 47. Atascadero has 28 cases, Arroyo Grande has 19, Nipomo has 15, San Luis Obispo has 14, Templeton has eight, San Miguel and Pismo Beach each have seven cases, and Morro Bay has six. Twelve additional patients live in communities with less than five cases and the health department is not disclosing those communities.
The Public Health Department reports it has conducted 955 tests to date. Fifty-four have been positive and another 109 positive cases have been detected at private labs. The total number of tests conducted at private labs is unknown at this time.
For more information on the county's COVID-19 response, visit readyslo.org.