First death in the Valley: See where, how coronavirus is spreading in California, central San Joaquin Valley
Update: 5:20 p.m. Thursday, March 25, 2020
The first death attributed to coronavirus in the central San Joaquin Valley was reported Thursday afternoon in Madera County.
The victim was a man in his 60s who was believed to have contracted the virus in a person-to-person contact rather than a travel-related case or community transmission. Madera County health officials also reported three new cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness related to coronavirus, on Thursday. That brings the total there, including the victim who died, to 10 cases.
As of Thursday afternoon, county health officials in the central San Joaquin Valley reported that a total of 61 people have tested positive for the fast-spreading coronavirus.
It marks a continued spread of the virus in Fresno, Tulare, Madera and Merced counties since the first positive tests were confirmed on March 6, about three weeks ago.
In addition to the Madera cases, the count includes 12 other new cases: eight in Fresno County, bringing the total now to 27; two in Tulare County, which now has 20 cases, and two in Merced County, which stands at four confirmed positives to date.
Kings County has yet to report any positive test results. However, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported Wednesday that one worker at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, one of two state prisons in the eastern Kings County community of Corcoran, has tested positive for coronavirus. The worker is one of 11 state prison employees around the state whose coronavirus tests have come back positive. It’s unknown if that worker resides in Kings County or in a neighboring county
By Thursday afternoon, county health departments across California collectively reported more than 3,900 coronavirus cases and attributed at least 81 deaths to the virus. That’s almost 1,000 cases more than Wednesday, while deaths rose by 16.
Those totals from individual counties add up to higher totals than those that have been compiled and reported by the state Department of Public Health in its most recent update Thursday, based on data through Wednesday afternoon. State health officials reported the number of people testing positive for the virus at 3,006 with 65 deaths.
The continuing rise in positive test results in the Valley and across the state comes one week after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a sweeping directive for residents in the state to stay at home and shelter in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
Los Angeles County is reporting the largest number of cases in California, leaping from 799 confirmed positive tests on Wednesday to more than 1,200 on Thursday. Los Angeles County also now has the highest death toll in the state, with 21 patients falling to complications from coronavirus by Thursday
Also on Thursday, the United States overtook Italy and China for the highest number of confirmed positive tests for COVID-19, as the number of American cases in the global pandemic continues to increase at a rapid pace. As of Thursday afternoon, a global coronavirus tracking tool produced by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine in Maryland reported the number of confirmed case in the U.S. at 83,507, with 1,201 dead from the disease.
That’s a one-day increase in confirmed cases of almost 33% from the 62,873 U.S cases reported Wednesday, while the number of deaths climbed by more than 34%.
The worldwide death toll from coronavirus climbed Wednesday to almost 24,000 by Wednesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker, with more than 529,000 confirmed cases.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 6:56 PM.
