The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in Riverside County approached 1,000 Monday, April 6, a day before the Board of Supervisors was to consider drawing $25 million from reserves to cover COVID-19-related costs.

Twenty-five deaths in the county are blamed on the virus, up six from Sunday. The number of confirmed cases countywide grew 18% from Sunday to 946 with 60 people having officially recovered from the disease. There were just 15 confirmed cases on March 16.

Corona, Indio, Palm Desert, and Rancho Mirage each have two confirmed COVID-19 fatalities, according to the county public health website. Seven have died from the disease in Palm Springs.

Beaumont, Cathedral City, Eastvale, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, and Wildomar each have one COVID-19-related death.

There’s a near-even split among men and women who have COVID-19, with 452 county cases being female and 443 being male.

Forty- to 64-year-olds make up the largest group with the virus with 441 cases, following by 18 to 39-year-olds at 264. One-hundred thirty-six cases are in the 65- to 79-year-old group, with those 80 and above accounting for 40 cases.

Four cases involve children age 4 and under and 11 are in the 5- to 17-year-old group.

At its regular Tuesday meeting, supervisors will consider a request from county officials to take $25 million from reserves in anticipation of paying expenses related to the county’s coronavirus response.

In a phone interview Monday, Don Kent, the county’s finance officer, described the transaction as pre-positioning funds for COVID-19 costs, from expenses the county incurred when a charter flight of 195 Americans evacuated from the pandemic origin point of Wuhan, China, arrived at March Air Reserve Base in January to ongoing costs to run the county’s emergency operations center.

The money also would cover expenses tied to a May 12 special election for a state Senate seat representing much of Riverside County, Kent said. The 28th Senate District election will be conducted by mail to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

While the exact amount that will be left in reserves is still being calculated, Kent said it should be above $200 million. Supervisors have traditionally tried to avoid dipping into reserves, which have been the $6.1 billion county budget’s fallback when the economy goes south.

Last month, Kent warned that the pandemic will deliver a major hit to county finances, in the current budget and the one for the fiscal year set to start July 1. How big a hit from lost revenue, late property tax payments and depressed interest earnings on investments is still being determined.

Also Monday, Kaiser extended until June 19 his order limiting hotels, motels, and other short-term rentals to business directly related to coronavirus — rooms rented to essential workers or those who must leave their homes to safely isolate away from family members, for example.

“If everyone does their part and stays home, stays apart and covers their face, then we can come out of this sooner as the tide turns quicker,” Kaiser said in a news release.

CASES BY COMMUNITY

Here’s a list of coronavirus cases in Riverside County by city and unincorporated community. If an unincorporated community is not listed, no cases have been reported there.