An improving COVID-19 outlook? Charts show trends in Fresno and nearby counties
More than 330 new coronavirus cases surfaced in Fresno County since Friday, but the number of patients being treated in hospitals for the respiratory disease is nearly at its lowest point in three months.
The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19, both in Fresno County and across neighboring counties in the central San Joaquin Valley, also is down sharply from August, when more residents died from the disease in a single month of the pandemic than over the previous five months combined.
Fresno County’s Department of Public Health reported 93 new confirmed COVID-19 infections on Saturday, and the state health department reported 137 more on Sunday and 105 on Monday. No new deaths were reported in Fresno County over the weekend, but the county only updates its count of fatalities on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Monday’s updates come a day before Fresno County is expected to be reassigned by the state to a less restrictive tier on California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. The county and its neighboring counties have been categorized in the state’s Tier 1, color-coded purple for being among counties with “widespread” risk of transmitting the virus among the public, and under the most restrictions for which businesses are authorized to operate and under what conditions.
But on Tuesday, county health officials anticipate the the California Department of Public Health will promote Fresno County to Tier 2, color coded red, indicating a reduction of risk from “widespread” to “substantial.”
Around the Valley
Monday’s coronavirus case updates for Valley counties included:
Fresno County: 335 new cases since Friday, 28,441 to date; no additional deaths, 382 to date.
Kings County: 144 new cases since Friday, 7,659 to date; two additional deaths, 80 to date. More than 3,340 of the county’s cases, and seven deaths, have been among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 58 new cases since Friday, 4,539 to date; no additional deaths, 65 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 75 to date; no additional deaths, to to date.
Merced County: 67 new cases since Friday, 8,939 to date; one additional death, 143 to date.
Tulare County: 101 new cases since Friday, 16,071 to date; no additional deaths, 263 to date.
Fewer patients in hospitals
Two months ago, in late July, more than 600 people were being treated in Valley hospitals for confirmed cases of COVID-19, creating concerns about the ability of medical staff to meet the needs of coronavirus patients as well as people with other diseases and conditions requiring hospitalization, including treatment in intensive-care units.
As of Sunday, data from the state Department of Health Services shows that the burden of coronavirus disease on local hospitals has diminished substantially. For the past three days, fewer than 150 people required hospital treatment for their confirmed infections, including 35 people in intensive-care units.
Hospitals across Fresno County were treating 74 hospitalized patients, the lowest number since late June, and down from a peak of more than 300 at the end of July.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 4:51 PM.
