Fresno-area COVID-19 cases ease, but health officials wait for Labor Day impact
More than 1,100 new confirmed COVID-19 infections were reported Tuesday among residents of Fresno County and neighboring counties over the three-day Labor Day weekend.
But no additional deaths from the novel coronavirus and the resulting respiratory disease were reported until Tuesday by health officials in Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties.
An average of about 455 new positive test results for coronavirus were reported each day over the past two weeks. That’s more than 100 fewer than the two-week average of about 561 daily cases on Sept. 1, and well below the peak of a surge that reached an average of 954 daily cases less than a month ago.
As daily cases have declined, so too have the number of people hospitalized for treatment of confirmed COVID-19 cases at hospitals across the central San Joaquin Valley. As of Monday, the state Department of Public Health reported that fewer than 290 coronavirus patients were in hospitals, including 151 in Fresno County.
That’s down from a hospitalization peak of more than 600 Valleywide, and more than 300 in Fresno County, in late July.
Health officials have expressed concern that end-of-summer family and social gatherings over the Labor Day weekend might create an environment for unwittingly spreading the virus – and possibly setting the stage for another increase in cases and hospitalizations as the contagion incubates in new victims.
Fresno County reported 94 new confirmed cases Tuesday, part of 587 cases identified over the long holiday weekend. That brings the county’s total to 26,565 residents who have, since March, tested positive for the virus. Fourteen additional deaths were also reported Tuesday by the Fresno County Department of Public Health, bringing to 326 the number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the pandemic. The county reports deaths on Tuesdays and Fridays.
As of Tuesday, the county is estimating the number of recovered patients at 13,847.
Around the Valley
Other updates Tuesday from Valley counties included:
Madera County: 14 new cases Tuesday and 72 over the holiday weekend, 4,025 cumulative to date; no additional deaths, 58 to date; 3,597 people recovered.
Mariposa County: No new cases Tuesday or over the weekend, 74 to date; no additional deaths, two to date; 70 people recovered.
Merced County: 138 new cases reported Tuesday for the long weekend, 8,415 to date; three additional deaths, 123 to date; 7,530 people recovered.
Tulare County: 139 new cases reported Tuesday for the long holiday weekend, 14,816 to date; three additional deaths, 246 to date; 13,875 people recovered.
Kings County: The county has yet to provide a Tuesday update, but on Friday night reported a surge of more than 200 new cases associated with state prisons in the county. As of Monday evening, the county had 6,853 cumulative cases to date, including 76 deaths. Almost 2,900 of the cases and six deaths are connected to prisons in Avenal and Corcoran. More than 4,000 of those infected in the county have recovered.
