Coronavirus updates: Tulare County nears 300 cases; Fresno County asks to waive property tax fees

Close to 300 people have now contracted the coronavirus in Tulare County.

In its daily update on Tuesday, the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency confirmed that 296 people have tested positive for the virus. That’s a daily increase of more than 30 cases.

No new deaths were reported in the county due to the coronavirus, thought the agency reported on Monday that two people died over the weekend. So far, thirteen people in Tulare County have died from complications of the coronoavirus.

Fresno County updated its coronavirus count to 222 positive cases, an increase of 21 from its last update before Easter.

More than 30 patients were hospitalized in Fresno County with COVID-19, the coronavirus, 14 in intensive care units, county health officials said Monday afternoon. Five people in the county have died, and 37 have recovered.

Merced County added five new cases on Tuesday, for a total of 74.

When will Fresno get antibody testing?

Antibody tests, which can show whether a person has been infected with the coronavirus after they may have recovered, are being rolled out in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The serological tests detect protective antibodies to the virus in someone’s blood stream and can reveals whether that person has been previously infected — and may be immune to future infection.

Fresno County health officials say they recognize the value of antibody tests and have been in contact with colleagues at the California Department of Public Health about bringing them here.

There’s no precise timeline for when that might happen.

“We’re not ready to offer it just today,” interim health officer Rais Vohra said. “I’m hoping in the next few days to weeks we will start to, and we’re certainly learning a lot from our partners and colleagues in other cities that are starting to look at these different testing modalities and seeing how they fit.”

Families struggle with funerals, burials

State and local social distancing guidelines and shelter-in-place orders have left families struggling to find closure for their loved ones as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim public health officer, on April 3 issued guidelines for funeral homes and funeral directors. He recommended delaying funerals, hosting private viewings for families, offering webcasting and more. But the county doesn’t have specific guidelines for cemeteries, other than to avoid mass gatherings, said Jordan Scott, the public information officer.

Families, like those of Aida Alvarez, whose mother and father both died after being diagnosed with the coronavirus are left in the lurch. There was no funeral for her parents and the family had to fight for the chance to be there for the burial.

Fresno County officials decided Tuesday to allow them to be present as long as they follow precautionary guidelines. The family will be allowed 10 cars at the cemetery, and only the siblings who were also exposed to the virus will be allowed to be out of the cars and near the casket. They must maintain social distancing.

Fresno County to Gov. Newsom; waive property tax fees

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors sent a letter asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to waive late fees on late property tax payments, which were due on Friday.

Fresno County officials have said they don’t have the power to delay property taxes nor can they cancel fines — even during the new coronavirus pandemic — without help from state leaders. At the moment, Fresno County residents are unable to apply for fee waivers related to the coronavirus.

“We’re sending a letter to Sacramento to the elected officials there to please consider removing some obstacles to allow us to be more effective and helpful to our community,” Supervisor Steve Brandau said.

Fresno State opens processing lab

Officials on Monday afternoon also announced the opening of a temporary processing lab at Fresno State.

The lab will be housed at the university’s Jordan Agricultural Research Center and test specimens to determine whether a patient is positive or negative for COVID-19. The lab will not collect swab samples from patients.

This should alleviate what many residents expressed as frustrations over long wait times to receive results in the county, which had been relying on Tulare County Public Health Department’s lab and Quest Diagnostics’ private lab to process test results. So far it has tracked more than 3,200 test results but does not receive all the negative results processed by private labs.

The Fresno State lab is expected to analyze between 40 to 60 specimens each day.

Pastors sue Gov. Newsom

A group of pastors from California’s Inland Empire are suing Gov. Gavin Newsom in federal court, alleging his administration of “criminalizing the free exercise of religion” with stay-at-home directives that have prevented people from attending church services.

One of the plaintiffs is a Riverside County pastor who was fined $1,000 for holding a Palm Sunday church service, according to the complaint filed. The pastors in the lawsuit also are suing California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and officials for both Riverside and San Bernardino counties including the county supervisors and sheriffs.

Shelter-in-place can mean new fears for undocumented women

Call to the domestic violence hotlines have risen since the coronavirus pandemic began and state and local agencies called for residents to shelter-in-place.

But, domestic violence reports among Spanish speakers are significantly down.

The Marjoree Mason Center in Fresno just released a video in Spanish as an outreach effort to Latinas. They are worried that the decrease in calls could mean greater jeopardy for this group of women. The video was created to let Latinas know they are still open and available to help.

Nursing homes need more staff

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a focus on helping nursing facilities and care homes — one of the most dangerous places to be in California in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.. The state is sending more personal protective equipment to staff in worst-hit centers, as well as infectious disease specialists, to help manage outbreaks.

Kudos to Newsom for creating the California Health Corps last month in the drive to staff 50,000 more hospital beds with medical professionals during the pandemic.

But as the nursing home reports show, their need is acute for staffing, too. It is now time for a second wave of Health Corps to be enacted — entry-level staff who can be assigned to nursing homes to relieve sick or exhausted workers from their duties so crucial care can continue for infected residents.

Tutor Nirvana

A 17-year old Clovis North High School student is expanding his tutoring services to all of the central San Joaquin Valley.

Jai Mehrotra-Varma created the free peer tutoring service, called Tutor Nirvana, last August. While school campus has been shuttered by the coronavirus, Mehrotra-Varma’s services delivered via Skype, Google Hangouts and even FaceTime help students preparing for AP exams in May, or otherwise struggling with homeschooling.

Virtual labs at city colleges, but not Fresno

The California Community College system announced on Tuesday a partnership with virtual lab simulation company Labster. This will give faculty access to Labster programs through the end of the year.

Access will be rolled out to schools across the state immediately. Faculty can choose to implement the programs into their coursework. Of the 115 community colleges across the state, Fresno City College is the only college that chose not to fully implement Labster, according to Labster spokesperson Marissa Tatro.

FCC President Carole Goldsmith said administration worried that because it is not compatible with tablets or phones, it would not be equitable to force implementation on students who only have access to those devices.

State Center Community College District schools and West Hills College and will now have access to more than 130 simulations in biology, chemistry, physics and general science they can conduct on a computer during remote learning.

The simulations look and feel like a video game, where students perform experiments that mimic real-world situations.

Food for front-line workers

In what is becoming a continuing trend, restaurants and organizations are continuing to donate and deliver food to essential workers as a means of gratitude. On Tuesday afternoon, Deli Delicious will deliver 70 sandwiches to the Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno.

Pastor Mike Chastain of New Covenant Church is bringing lunch – pasta/salad/bread meals from Luna’s in Clovis – to Clovis Community.

Medical providers: Tell The Fresno Bee about your experiences

As the number of coronavirus cases in the central San Joaquin Valley tops 500 and the strain on local hospitals grows, The Fresno Bee wants to understand what area medical providers and first responders are going through, whether they’ve been furloughed or continue working. What has the experience been like? What challenges are they facing? What gear are they missing?

Here is a survey to help connect them with reporters.

This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 10:00 AM.