Fresno County adds 279 COVID-19 cases, tops Valley at 7,906, as meat plants see outbreaks
Fresno County reported 279 more positive cases Friday of the coronavirus though officials did not report any new deaths.
At 7,906 cases, Fresno County continues to lead the central San Joaquin Valley in confirmed cases of the pandemic virus. The number of deaths on Friday stayed at 87 after reporting multiple deaths in previous daily updates this week.
Of the cases, 1,779 in Fresno County have recovered and 448 have been hospitalized since the virus arrived in March.
The most recent numbers in the Valley push the number of cases past 19,000, including 300 deaths.
Meat-packing cases
The past two days have seen reports of outbreaks in meat-packing facilities in Fresno and Merced counties.
Five employees told The Bee that up to half of the workers at Harris Ranch Beef Company in Selma had missed work due to COVID-19 concerns. That’s more than 100 workers.
Harris Ranch Human Resources Vice President Mike Casey declined to disclose the total number of COVID-19 cases or the total number of people absent due to fear or possible COVID-19 infections.
The Merced County Department of Health on June 29 confirmed 13 people tested positive at the Foster Farms’ Livingston complex.
Other meat packing sites in the central San Joaquin Valley and around the country have been hot spots for the spread of the virus because of cramped quarters and demanding work.
Other counties
Tulare County saw four more deaths reported on Friday and 169 new positive cases of COVID-19, according to health officials. That brings the respective totals to 152 and 5,678.
Merced County reported 91 new cases to reach 1,793 since the beginning of the pandemic. No deaths left the total at 12.
Madera County did not report any new deaths on Friday but added 36 cases, which included 15 cases on Thursday and 21 on Friday, to what is now 893 total. Eight people have died from issues related to the virus.
Kings County reported 43 new cases (only one in a state prison) for 2,762 total. Forty-two percent of those are in prisons. The county has had 13 deaths.
Mariposa County has not reported any new cases or deaths this week The totals remain at one death and 31 cases.
More than 133,000 people have died nationwide from complications related to the coronavirus, including more than 6,700 Californians, according to The COVID Tracking Project and Johns Hopkins University CSSE. The number of positive cases in the country has climbed to 3.1 million, and the state has seen more than 296,000.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 3:54 PM.
