Coronavirus updates: Fresno County nears 200 deaths; Outreach for Black, immigrant communities

For the third time in just over a week, the central San Joaquin Valley reported another daily increase of more than 1,100 positive cases of the coronavirus.

Nearly 2,000 cases were reported across the six counties on Tuesday. Merced County added 366 and close to 700 cases were added in Tulare County as that it caught up with the state’s reporting backlog. Fresno County added 132 cases, Madera County 127 and Mariposa County added one. Kings County added 600 cases (and six deaths) in its first update since Aug. 2.

Tulare County reported 94 more cases and seven related deaths in an update Wednesday.

The region has now seen more than 43,000 positive cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began. Well over half of those who’ve had the virus (25,835) have recovered. More than 570 people have died of illness related to the coronavirus, according to the statistics.

Coronavirus deaths in Valley

August looks to be a particularly deadly for coronavirus in the Valley, with the region reporting an average of close to 10 deaths each day. There were nearly 30 deaths reported in Fresno, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties on Tuesday alone.

Of those, 20 were reported in Fresno County, where 191 people have now died since the pandemic began. Tulare County continues to lead the region in deaths, with 205. That is more than 41 deaths per every 100,000 residents; the third-highest death rate per capita in the state behind Imperial County and Los Angeles County. Kings County, which has reported 62 deaths, ranks No. 4 in the state.

One-hundred twenty people have died from the coronavirus across the region since Aug. 1. In July, 208 deaths, or 6.7 each day, were attributed to coronavirus.

Military healthcare workers extend stay

The Department of Defense has granted a 14-day extension for the military healthcare team assisting Kaweah Delta Medical Center in caring for COVID-19 patients. The deployment will now last through Aug. 29.

Eight teams were sent to California hospitals last month, including Visalia’s Kaweah Delta Medical Center and Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.

The 21-member team – mostly from Travis Air Force Base – arrived as more than 70 Kaweah Delta staff members were on quarantine and staffing hospital beds was a challenge. As of Tuesday, Kaweah Delta was caring for 64 patients with COVID-19. That is down from the Visalia hospital’s high of 91 patients on July 25, though more than 70 staff members remain quarantined at home.

“This is a celebratory moment for us,” said Gary Herbst, Kaweah Delta’s Chief Executive Officer.

“We have greatly enjoyed this partnership, working together to help care for our community and the surge in COVID patients we experienced following Fourth of July gatherings.”

The hospital is working with the state the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a full 30-day extension.

Since mid-July, the team of 21 military healthcare workers – mostly from Travis Air Force Base – have been assisting the Kaweah Delta team.

And the team has been honored to serve, said Maj. Gen. Michael A. Stone, Commanding General of Task Force 46. “Our mission is to serve the American people and we are proud to partner with the hard-working civilian medical providers at Kaweah Delta, and the other supported hospitals in California and Texas,” he said. “The State of California and FEMA identified a need for assistance in Tulare County and through this unique partnership with Kaweah Delta, we are honored to help this community.”

“We’re worried about Labor Day. Ideally, we would like to have the military healthcare workforce for 30 more days because it would help us get past Labor Day when we know we will see an increase in cases,” said Keri Noeske, Kaweah Delta’s Chief Nursing Officer. “In the meantime, we have been working to increase staffing by bringing on new hires because that’s really the goal of it. The military support is not meant to be a long-term solution, but it helps create a window for us to get staff in place. And as hard as it will be, we do ask the community to help us by limiting their social gatherings for the Labor Day weekend.”

Kaweah Delta’s solutions to staffing challenges include incentivizing clinical staff to work additional shifts, hiring additional clinical staff, and hiring more student nurse interns. Additionally, Kaweah Delta has already returned a number of registered nurses to the bedside who traditionally work in other departments.

Kaweah Delta shares COVID-19 information and regular updates with the community on its website at www.kaweahdelta.org/COVID19 and on its social media accounts.

Fresno County contracts outreach to residents

Seventeen community-based organizations are sending representatives into Fresno County neighborhoods to help residents cooperate with COVID-19 prevention efforts.

The effort, which focuses on Black and immigrant communities and farmworker and rural residents, is seen as a way to get to people who have been wary of communicating with health officials during the coronavirus pandemic.

The county will spend $5.5 million for the outreach. The money will compensate volunteers, expand services to residents and provide for an additional 300 contact tracers to work in the county and reach families with education and for medical investigations.

Pistachios added to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

The United States Department of Agriculture has added pistachios to its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, meaning growers can now receive direct payments from the government.

Pistachio crops experienced a more than 5% decline in prices from Jan. 15-April 15 of this year, making it eligible for the list. It was one of 20 crops added by the USDA. Additionally, the USDA has made the crop eligible for further relief for losses due to spoilage in or loss of the marketing channel.

“We’re pleased that USDA took the effort to review all sales data on pistachios, particularly exports, which have seen declines as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic experienced on a global basis,” said American Pistachio Growers president Richard Matoian.

Growers can work through their local Farm Service Agency office to submit the forms for direct payments.

This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 8:36 AM.