Fresno has waited three weeks on state COVID-19 strike team reports. What’s going on?
Fresno County health officials are still waiting for reports and direction from state strike teams to fight the coronavirus pandemic here, three weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he was sending help.
The enforcement strike team focusing on Alcoholic Beverage Control and Cal/OSHA requirements regularly meets with Fresno County Public Health Department staff and collaborate on responding to complaints, said Dave Pomaville, director of Fresno County Public Health.
But the other “unified support” teams have yet to report back to Fresno County health officials to “identify some of the additional items that we may be able to work on,” Pomaville said Friday afternoon during a media briefing.
The state input has helped drive medical support teams to the hospitals in a more timely matter, he said. Plus, there’s more direct communication with state officials.
A representative of the governor’s office responded to a request for comment saying the Office of Emergency Services would be in touch, but that didn’t happen. No one from the California Department of Public Health responded to a request for comment.
The central San Joaquin Valley, from Merced County down to Kings County, has seen more than 600 coronavirus deaths and over 46,000 cases, numbers reported Friday show.
Newsom in late July said he’d send millions in funding and other resources to the central San Joaquin Valley as COVID-19 cases and deaths soared in the region. Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was slated to go toward testing and contact tracing here, while state-level personnel were planned to help reduce stress on the Valley’s strapped healthcare system.
Fresno County’s interim health officer, Dr. Rais Vohra, at the time said the strike teams were good news for Fresno and the Valley.
“I was heartened to learn that they are going to bring a whole-government approach,” Vohra said earlier this month. “They recognize that this is not just the role of public health, that this is going to require multiple public agencies and civic leaders to help us control the spread that we’re currently experiencing.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.