Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Merced, CA

Daily Covid-19 admissions in the Merced County area

About the data

Data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalization data is a daily average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Merced County, an area which may be larger than Merced County itself.

The number of daily hospital admissions shows how many patients tested positive for Covid in hospitals and is one of the most reliably reported indicators of Covid’s impact on a community.

Total population

Ages 65 and up

Ages 65 and up

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 2% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Nearby hospitals

Share of I.C.U. beds occupied

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Merced County

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Merced County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Merced County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

A storm cell that blew through the Valley produced thunder and lightning as well as hail and funnel clouds in and around Merced County, according to the National Weather Service.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Merced, Madera and Fresno counties near Dos Palos and Los Banos on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley office in Hanford. A storm cell that tracked through the southeast portion of Merced County produced up to 1 inch of rain reported in the Los Banos area, according to meteorologist Jim Brusda with the weather service.

Brusda said dime-sized hail was reported in Dos Palos and a funnel cloud was reported about one mile east of Dos Palos. A funnel cloud was also detected near Firebaugh. An EF-1 tornado which produced winds of up to 90 mph touched down in Tuolumne County on Saturday about six miles southwest of Tuttletown. According to Brusda, there were no reports of tornadoes in Merced County on Sunday.

“That part of the county was hit harder than other parts of Merced County,” said Brusda.

Merced saw about one-quarter to half an inch of rain on Sunday with the Stevinson area recording about .48 inches of rain. According to Brusda, the Merced River was recorded to be at about 70 feet in Stevinson Monday morning and is forecast to rise above 72 feet Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. Flood stage is 71 feet.

On Monday morning, Bear Creek was recorded to be at 13.5 feet and is forecast to rise just above the flood stage of 23 feet late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, according to forecasters.

The Merced area is expected to see the warmest temperatures of the week Monday with a high in the upper 60s. Brusda said the area could see a chance of thunderstorms throughout the day with the best chance of precipitation occurring after midnight.

“Late tonight and Tuesday is the heaviest band of precipitation,” said Brusda.

Temperatures are expected to reach a high in the low 60s Tuesday with a 100% chance of rain, according to the weather service. Rain is expected to continue into Wednesday with a 30% chance of rain before clearing up Wednesday night.

Valley areas could see as much as 1-1.5 inches from Monday night though Wednesday morning, according to Brusda. Some mountain areas northeast of Merced could see as much as 3-4 inches of rain with snow at elevations above 7,000 feet.

The Merced area is expected to see a high temperature in the low 60s on Thursday and a high in the mid 60s on Friday with a 30% chance of rain, according to forecasters.

Rainfall in the Mariposa area was not overly heavy with about 0.4 inches recorded on Sunday about 30 miles northeast of Merced. Even without heavy rains, the recent rainfall is enough to cause problems and concerns of flash flooding and mudslides, according to Brusda.

According to the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, a shelter in place order was issued for the Foresta area on Saturday with access to the area compromised. According to sheriff’s office spokesperson Kristie Mitchell, the order was lifted Monday morning. Mitchell said the order was prompted due to a mudslide and rockslide in the park as well a mudslide and washout on Highway 120. Caltrans has since established a one-way traffic control on Highway 120, according to Mitchell.

A shelter in place order was also issued for the area of Triangle Park Road and the nearby neighborhoods due to a bridge culvert failure along a road which is not maintained by the county, according to Mitchell. That order was expected to be lifted Monday.

“We’ve had damage countywide, but as far as access for people and shelter in place, those are the only two areas,” Mitchell said.

According to Mitchell, residents are encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts and MSO alerts as well as to seek information from official sources and to pay attention to all warnings that are issued.

This story was originally published March 13, 2023, 12:20 PM.

A Merced County Sheriff’s Office deputy with a troubled history and a misdemeanor conviction was charged Wednesday with assault for repeatedly kicking a DUI suspect in the head numerous times, authorities said.

Dustin Witt, 42, a former sergeant, was booked for assault by a public officer and other charges for the March 11 incident. He resigned in June amid an internal affairs investigation.

“It breaks my heart to have to share this incident with you, but rest assured this is not something I take lightly,” Sheriff Vern Warnke said. “I want to be clear that this incident was isolated and does not reflect the actions of the rest of our agency.”

The charges stemmed from an encounter caught on body-camera video with a man named Louis Jackson, who was arrested following a crash in which he was suspected of driving under the influence, according to the Merced County district attorney’s office. Witt responded to the scene, though he was not the first officer to arrive.

“There’s no need for a sobriety test. I’m drunk. I’ve been drinking,” Jackson said.

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July 18, 2023

Witt then makes a comment to Jackson’s girlfriend that upset Jackson, the video shows. He swings an arm after a deputy tries to touch him, though he does not hit any deputy.

Then Witt moves toward Jackson and pushes him and the two begin to fight.

Another officer deployed his Taser on Jackson, who fell to the ground, where Witt began to kick him in the face, then stomp on his head, video shows.

Jackson’s head is under a Sheriff’s Office car and he screams as Witt kicks him, the video shows.

Another deputy says “stop” and grabs Witt’s hand.

“It’s OK, we got him,” the deputy says, seemingly trying to get Witt to stop assaulting the man.

Witt keeps his foot on the man’s neck as they handcuff him, the video shows.

Witt was still serving as a deputy despite a 2019 demotion and misdemeanor conviction following a drunken brawl during which he and another deputy — who was also a Merced City Council member — beat up another peace officer and a bystander, according to the Merced Sun-Star.

The bar brawl on Dec. 15, 2018, followed a Sheriff’s Office Christmas party where Witt admitted to “heavy drinking,” according to the Sun-Star.

The fight included a bystander, who one deputy said he recalled holding while Witt or another deputy “punched the man in the face repeatedly,” according to the report.

The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on why Witt was not fired following the 2018 brawl and misdemeanor conviction.

The Merced County district attorney confirmed that Witt was the same deputy.

Witt was also a member of the Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 unit.

The Merced area will see more rain this weekend as showers are expected to move through the area, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Brian Ochs at the weather service’s San Joaquin Valley office in Hanford said storms have dumped about 1.15 inches of rain in Merced this week. While there are no flood watches or warnings currently in effect for the area, some high flows have been recorded in Merced’s Bear Creek.

Ochs said recent readings show the water level reached the monitor stage in the creek peaking at about 17 feet. The level was expected to recede throughout the day Wednesday. Wind gusts in the Merced area reached 23 mph Wednesday, with Tuesday’s strongest gust reaching 30 mph.

A freeze warning was issued for the Merced area beginning Wednesday night into Thursday morning, as temperatures were expected to drop to about 30 degrees.

Ochs reminded that the cold temperatures can pose a risk to vegetation and those sensitive to the cold.

High temperatures in the mid 50s are expected Thursday, before dropping to the low 30s overnight and into Friday morning. A freeze watch has been issued for the area for Thursday night into Friday morning. Friday’s high temperatures are expected to reach the upper 50s and more rain is expected in the area over the weekend.

According to Ochs, the Merced area is expected to see a 40% chance of rain on Saturday, with showers possible late in the afternoon and into Sunday. The area has a 50% chance of rain Sunday with a weekend rainfall total expected to be around a quarter of an inch. The weekend rainfall is not expected to cause any flooding, Ochs said.

Multiple roads have been closed in the Mariposa area due to hazardous conditions including heavy snow, downed power lines and falling trees, according to a Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office social media post Wednesday. According to authorities, the closures include Worman Road, Harris Road, Chowchilla Mountain Road, Darrah Road at Cole Road, Allred Road, Silva Road, East Westfall Road, Whitlock Road, Jerseydale Road, Tip Top Road and Wass Road.

All roads inside the Ponderosa Basin subdivision, the Lush Meadows subdivision area and Triangle Road from Highway 140 to Highway 49, including all side roads, are also closed, according to authorities.

According to Ochs, roughly 15 inches of snowfall has been recorded in the past 24 hours at a location at about 3,500 feet elevation in the area of the Ponderosa Basin. Ochs said meteorologists had forecast several inches up to a foot of snow for the area over the past 24 hours, but exact snowfall totals are unknown at this time.

“We do know there have been closures all over the foothills,” said Ochs.

Ochs said recent snowfall totals for Yosemite are unknown at this time, but the area’s snow water equivalent is about 200% more than the average for this time of year.

The Yosemite area could see a dusting of snow up to one inch Wednesday as blizzard warnings are no longer in effect for the area, according to Ochs. The weekend could bring with it more snow to the Yosemite area, including the valley and higher elevations, which could see several inches up to about one foot of snow on Saturday.

Ochs said the Yosemite area could see as much as 6-12 inches of snow Saturday night and into Sunday morning, with higher elevations possibly seeing as much as 15 inches of snow.

South of the city of Merced, a section of Highway 59 between Reilly Road and Sandy Mush Road remained closed Wednesday due to Mariposa Creek flooding, according Merced-area California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Zuniga. There was no timetable for reopening the nearly 10-mile stretch of highway.

This story was originally published March 1, 2023, 12:32 PM.

MERCED, Calif. —

In recent weeks, Merced neighbors Mariya Nelson and Beth Lee took on more than just rebuilding their storm-battered homes.

After a series of break-ins, they’re now the de facto neighborhood watch for a well-to-do strip of homes that runs along a road abutting Bear Creek, which has flooded multiple times in recent weeks during California’s series of storms.

They were forced from their homes in early January when more than 3 feet of water displaced them.

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Then came the burglaries. Nelson, 33, counts at least seven attempts on her home.

“We got hit hard,” she said.

Rain and strong winds inundated Merced on Tuesday, with some areas under an evacuation warning and the threat of more damage on the horizon. Sandbags line the entryway of Nelson’s home, and a tarp covers a portion of the roof, which collapsed in recent downpours.

She said she’d been in this house “almost 25 years, and we’ve never ever had anybody break in.” Now, with another evacuation warning issued for her neighborhood, Nelson saw break-in attempts increase.

Nelson said a would-be thief parked in her driveway Tuesday morning in daylight and approached her house. The individual only ran away, she said, when she appeared at the door.

“My house is full of kids,” she added, and she fears for their safety.

Lee, 53, is no stranger to disaster. She lost her previous house in the 2020 Creek fire and used the insurance proceeds to buy her current home.

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The defense attorney currently resides in a rental while her home is being repaired. But she said recent break-ins, coupled with the flood warnings, spurred her to stay home.

She counts at least nine break-in attempts in the last two months.

“We started putting the house back together” after the last flood “and had to stop again” due to the recent flood warning, she said.

Now the house is empty, and two storage pods in the driveway hold her possessions — or they did, before burglars managed to get into them and take what they could.

When she bought this house on the river, Lee knew it was in a flood zone, but she said she reasoned with herself that “we were in a drought.”

Reflecting on the experience of suffering a catastrophic fire and then a flood within three years, she shrugged. “I guess this is climate change?”

Nearby, at the Merced County fairground, two large gymnasiums were converted into emergency shelters for those displaced by storms.

All 200 of the available beds were empty Tuesday evening. John Ceccoli, a spokesman for the Merced County Human Services Agency, said the facility had seen a maximum of 36 people at once since reopening last week.

More than 600 people stayed at the facility during heavy storms in January, he added. As sheets of rain came down outside Tuesday afternoon, workers wondered whether another flood was coming.

“I’ve never tracked the weather so closely in my life,” Ceccoli said.

In nearby Planada, El Gallito bakery has stayed open through a handful of storms.

The bakery was flooded along with the town in late January. Now the store’s doors are protected by sandbags and tarps, and the family who runs it has worked to flood-proof their home as well. Appliances damaged by floodwaters — more than a foot high and containing sewage — have mostly been replaced, thanks in part to community support on GoFundMe.

A pantry at the front of the store is notably top-heavy, with the bottom shelves mostly empty. Every day at closing time, the family members remove goods from the bottom shelves and place them on the counters, wary of losing inventory again.

Keeping the business going is essential, said Leonardo Villagomez, son of owners Luis and Estella Villagomez.

The family needs the income.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said.

Times staff writer Benjamin Oreskes contributed to this report.