Three ZIP codes in the southern areas of San Diego County have experienced the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the region.

The 92154 area of South San Diego has the highest number of confirmed virus cases with 3,186, Chula Vista’s 91911 area is second with 2,841, and the 91910 area is third with 2,243 cases.

Other areas in wealthier communities have reported relatively low numbers of cases, including Rancho Santa Fe ZIP 92067 with 76 cases, Coronado ZIP 92135 with 48 cases, and La Jolla ZIP 92093 with only 22 cases.

County health officials have acknowledged that minority communities have experienced higher infections rates for various reasons, including higher numbers of essential workers, lower levels of access to health care, and underlying health conditions that disproportionately affect lower income communities.

The County’s top health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten, said that he three most common underlying health conditions that raise the risk and severity of COVID are hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.

Overall, San Diego County has reported 55,603 confirmed cases and 881 deaths. In California, over 923,000 cases have been reported and 17,550 deaths statewide.

This week, County health officials reported 330 new cases on Wednesday, keeping our region in the “Purple” tier of mandated restriction, and below the “Red” tier.

The adjusted case rate in the county dropped to 6.5 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

“We’re holding steady in San Diego County,” said County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher at a weekly meeting of county officials Wednesday that announced the new totals.

The latest county results reported a 3% positive rate, lowering the 14- day rolling average percentage of positive cases to 2.7%. The 7-day daily average of tests is 11,278.

13 new community outbreaks were confirmed Wednesday, raising the county total in the last week to 31 outbreaks that included 133 new cases. Four of the new outbreaks were connected to grocery stores, three to restaurants, two to healthcare settings, two were in unspecified government settings, one was in a daycare, and one in a business that was not identified.

A community outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households over the past 14 days.

One of the other speakers at the Wednesday briefing was Steve Padilla, a Chula Vista Councilman and California Coastal Commission, who was the first elected official in the state to report being infected with COVID-19. Padilla tested positive in March and was admitted to the hospital where he was in a drug-induced coma. He spent 12 days in intensive care and lost nearly 30 pounds.

“It’s quite a workout, but not one that I would recommend, Padilla said jokingly.

The US experienced the highest number of confirmed cases in a single day over the weekend when 83,731 cases were reported on Saturday, the highest since the pandemic began in February. The total number of cases in the US is over 9.2 million, and over 234,000 deaths.