Coronavirus death toll rises to over 700 in Fresno and neighboring Valley counties
At least 12 more fatalities reported Wednesday and blamed on the novel coronavirus by county health officials across the central San Joaquin Valley have pushed the total number of lives lost in the region to more than 700 since the first deaths from COVID-19 were identified five months ago.
In Tulare County, eight deaths were reported on Wednesday morning, pushing the total number of fatalities there to 224, while Madera County’s death toll rose by two on Wednesday afternoon, to a total of 53. Merced County also reported two additional deaths on Wednesday, with the total climbing to 112.
Madera County is where the region’s first death from COVID-19 was reported on March 27, followed one day later by the report of a death in Tulare County. In each successive month since March, the virus and the respiratory disease it causes have claimed progressively more lives.
August is proving to be the deadliest month yet. Including the deaths that were reported by Wednesday afternoon, 250 residents in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties had succumbed to the virus – and five days remain before the month is done.
Wednesday’s COVID-19 updates from across the Valley included:
Fresno County: 314 new cases confirmed on Wednesday by the state Department of Public Health, for a total of 23,923 people who have been infected with the virus at some point since early March. No new deaths, as the county is only updating its report of deaths on Tuesdays and Fridays, and 239 to date.
Madera County: 42 new cases on Wednesday, 3,551 to date; two additional deaths, 53 to date. More than 2,920 residents have recovered from the virus.
Mariposa County: One new case on Wednesday, 71 to date; no additional deaths, two to date; 67 people recovered.
Merced County: 54 new cases on Wednesday, 7,744 to date; two additional deaths, 112 to date; 6,109 people recovered.
Tulare County: 64 new cases on Wednesday, 13,673 to date; eight additional deaths, 224 to date; 12,736 people recovered. Excluding weekends, when Tulare County does not provide updates of its case counts, Wednesday represented the smallest number of new cases in a day in two months.
Kings County: 44 new cases on Wednesday, 6021 to date; no new deaths, 72 to date; 3,596 people recovered. More than 2,280 of the infections, and six of the deaths, are associated with state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
As of Wednesday, an average of 780 new confirmed COVID-19 infections have been reported each day over the past two weeks in the central San Joaquin Valley. That average has shrunk considerably since Sunday, when the 14-day average was about 954 per day. That high average was fueled by a stretch of individual days earlier this month in which no fewer than 800 and as many as 1,900 new cases were reported.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:10 PM.
