Tulare County urges residents to use face masks as COVID-19 cases rise over 1,000, including 44 dead
Tulare County pushed past 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection on Friday, reporting 44 new cases in addition to one more death.
Friday’s midday report puts Tulare County at 1,013 people who have tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus, since the contagion was first noted in the central San Joaquin Valley in early March. The number of county residents who have succumbed to the respiratory illness caused by the virus is now 44.
The update comes a day after Dr. Karen Haught, Tulare County’s public health officer, issued a face-mask advisory urging county residents to wear face masks whenever they are:
- Waiting inside or waiting in line to enter businesses.
- Working in essential government functions.
- Seeking care at health care facilities.
- Waiting for or riding public transportation.
Wearing a mask that covers the nose and mouth is recommended to avoid unwittingly spreading the coronavirus to other people.
“One key transmission method for the COVID-19 virus is respiratory droplets that people expel when they breathe or sneeze. Individuals have been found to be infected with COVID-19 and not have any symptoms, meaning they are asymptomatic, but they can still be contagious,” Haught’s guidance statement said. “People can also be infected and contagious 48 hours before developing symptoms, the time when they are pre-symptomatic. Many people with the COVID-19 virus have mild symptoms and do not recognize they are infected and contagious, and they can unintentionally infect others.”
“Wearing a face mask is most effective when used with social distancing and hand and surface hygiene,” according to Haught’s guidance statement.
Haught also issued a recommendation for families to maintain social distancing when celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend, noting the danger of gatherings of extended family that can potentially lead to exposure to the virus.
“Show your mother how important she is by protecting her from COVID-19,” she said in a written statement. “Celebrate with members of your own household, and reach out in other ways to your loved ones in other households.”
“Do not have gatherings of extended family beyond your household, because this can unknowingly cause exposure to COVID-19,” Haught added.
Elsewhere in the Valley
No other central San Joaquin Valley counties reported new coronavirus disease cases as of noon Friday, but Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties were expected to update their COVID-19 situations later Friday.
Tulare County’s new cases pushed the region’s total number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the virus reached the Valley in early March to 2,300. That includes 59 deaths across the six-county region, as well as more than 600 people who have recovered from the virus.
As of noon Friday, Valley case counts were:
- Fresno County: 813 cases, nine deaths, 279 recovered.
- Kings County: 244 cases, one death, 35 recovered.
- Madera County: 62 cases, two deaths, 37 recovered.
- Mariposa County: 15 cases, no deaths, 12 recovered
- Merced County: 157 cases, three deaths, 86 recovered.
