Merced Co. officials list COVID-19 hotspots in county

Merced County officials are outlining areas where COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred.

Those hotspots include prisons, cancer centers and local companies.

Health officials say an area is considered to have an outbreak when there are three or more unrelated cases, confirmed with testing, within a two-week period.

Nearly a dozen places in Merced County are said to have these outbreaks - including Atwater Federal Prison, Hilmar Cheese Company and Foster Farms.

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Merced County health officials say when they determine there is an outbreak, they work closely with the facility and go over cleaning protocols while contact tracers track down everyone who could have been exposed.

You can find a full list of places reporting outbreaks in Merced County here.