COVID-19 claims 18 more lives in Fresno County. Kings County can reopen more businesses
The novel coronavirus claimed 18 additional lives in Fresno County since Friday, pushing the county to a total of 424 deaths since the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed here in early March.
Across neighboring counties in the central San Joaquin Valley, the deaths of 1,000 people have now been attributed to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes over the past eight months.
The deaths reported on Tuesday were the first ones reported in Fresno County in a week, and the first ones across the Valley since Friday.
The California Department of Public Health reported Tuesday that an additional 104 confirmed new cases of coronavirus infection surfaced in Fresno County. That brings the total number of confirmed cases – the number of residents who at some point since March tested positive for the coronavirus infection – to more than 29,500.
Tuesday was the second consecutive day in which the state reported more than 100 new COVID-19 infections in Fresno County. Previously, the most recent 100-plus-case day was Oct. 4.
Despite the increase in cases to an average of more than 55 new daily cases over the past seven days, Fresno County remained assigned to Tier 2 in the state’s color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy that sets thresholds for when different types of businesses can reopen, based on numbers of cases and testing positivity on a county-by-county basis.
This is Fresno County’s third week in Tier 2, color-coded red to represent “substantial” risk of transmitting the virus. Prior to Sept. 28, the county had been in purple Tier 1, the most restrictive of the tiers in counties where risk for the virus is deemed to be “widespread.”
Because Fresno County has now spent three weeks in the red tier, the county can allow middle and high schools to reopen with limited class sizes. The county already had the authority to grant waivers for elementary schools to reopen under limited conditions even when it was in purple Tier 1.
According to the state’s calculations, Fresno County saw an adjusted average of 6.5 new daily cases per 100,000 residents over the previous week, and 5.1% of residents tested had positive results for the virus.
Kings County to red tier
Kings County, which had been in the purple tier since the end of August, also earned promotion to red Tier 2 on Tuesday, based on driving its new-case rate to 6.3 per 100,000 and its testing positivity rate to 2.7%.
To reach Tier 2, a county’s case rate must be at or under 7.0 per 100,000 and its testing positivity rate must be less than 8%.
Among other Valley counties, Merced entered its second week in red Tier 2, while Mariposa County remains in yellow Tier 4, the least restrictive level representing “minimal” risk for spreading the virus.
For Fresno, Merced and Kings counties, the next step would be orange Tier 3, denoting “moderate” risk of viral spread. To reach that, a county must spend at least three weeks in its current tier, and meet the requirements of the orange tier for two consecutive weeks: a daily new-case rate of fewer than four cases per 100,000 residents, and a testing positivity rate below 5%.
Counties must also meet a third health equity metric, requiring that the case-rate and testing percentages be fulfilled not only on a countywide basis, but also for the most socioeconomically disadvantaged census tracts within the county. Fresno County’s health equity score of 7.4 remains in the red tier.
Both Kings and Merced counties already meet the orange threshold for the health equity score.
Madera and Tulare counties remain in purple Tier 1.
Around the Valley
Tuesday’s case updates across the central San Joaquin Valley included:
Fresno County: 104 new cases on Tuesday, 29,523 to date; 18 additional deaths, 424 to date; 19,407 people recovered.
Kings County: Four new cases on Tuesday, 8,096 to date; no additional deaths, 82 to date; 6,414 people recovered. Cases in Kings County include 3,632 infections among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 10 new cases Tuesday, 4,796 to date; no additional deaths, 71 to date; 4,381 people recovered.
Mariposa County: No new cases Tuesday, 77 to date; no additional deaths, 2 to date; 74 people recovered.
Merced County: 116 new cases Tuesday (the county’s first update since Friday afternoon), 9,265 to date; two additional deaths, 152 to date. Recoveries were not reported.
Tulare County: 86 new cases Tuesday, 16,976 to date; no additional deaths, 269 to date; 16,079 people recovered.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 4:44 PM.
