Coronavirus update for Oct. 14: Fresno County still in red tier, despite rise in deaths
Despite a spike in new coronavirus cases over the last three days, Fresno County on Tuesday held onto its second tier status for economic reopening, remaining within the state threshold that allows certain businesses to operate under health and safety guidelines.
According to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the California Department of Public Health on Tuesday kept Fresno County assigned to red Tier 2 status for a third straight week. That means businesses such as restaurants, tattoo parlors, nail salons, churches, and fitness clubs can keep operating indoors with limited capacity.
Since Friday, Fresno County reported 18 new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the county total to 424 since the pandemic began. The county also added 104 new infections for a total of 29,523 positive cases in March. The county is slated to report another round of deaths on Friday.
To remain in the second tier stage, Fresno County has to maintain an average daily new case rate between 4 to 7 per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate under 8%. The state imposed a new health equity requirement less than a month ago, which mandates that the daily new case rate and positivity rate also be maintained in underserved communities that includes people of color and essential workers.
As of Tuesday, the California Department of Public Health reported Fresno County had a positivity rate of 5.1% and a daily new case rate of 6.5 per 100,000 residents, well within the boundaries required to maintain its status. Fresno County’s health equity score of 7.4 remains in the red tier.
Fresno County officials for the past week worried about sliding back into Purple Tier 1, the most restrictive level in the state’s reopening plan due to the surge in new cases.
The county has remained in the second tier status for three weeks, which means it can allow middle and high schools to reopen with limited class sizes. The county had the greenlight to grant waivers for elementary schools to reopen under limited conditions in purple Tier 1, but can now allow schools to move forward with those plans.
But that doesn’t mean Fresno-area schools will reopen. Late Tuesday, the Central Unified School Board voted to keep most students - including elementary children - at home until after the New Year.
“Could we open tomorrow? Yes, we could,” Trustee Terry Cox said during the meeting. “But should we open? I don’t think we should.”
State officials update counties on their tier status weekly on Tuesdays. If counties see any changes in their assigned tiers, a three-day notice will be issued to implement changes and closures.
Valleywide status updates
Neighboring Kings County on Tuesday graduated into the red Tier 2 status, according to state officials, maintaining a new daily case rate at 6.3 per 100,000 and its testing positivity rate at 2.7%.
Among other Valley counties, Merced is now in its second week of red Tier 2, while Mariposa County remains in yellow Tier 4, the least restrictive level. Madera and Tulare counties remain in purple Tier 1.
State and national updates
California’s total case count reached 852,406 on Tuesday, while a total of 16,581 people have died statewide since the pandemic first hit in March.
The national death toll from COVID-19 is nearing 216,000 as of Wednesday morning, among the highest reported globally. More than 7.84 million people have contracted the virus. As of Tuesday, 826 new COVID-19 deaths and 54,512 new cases were reported across the country, according to a New York Times analysis.
The New York Times reports case numbers are rapidly rising in 16 states in the Midwest and western states near the Rocky Mountains, with outbreaks spreading at a faster rate in North and South Dakota. At least 36 states in the Northeast, including New York and Pennsylvania, which had seen a steady decrease in recent months, are starting to backslide and are seeing a trend in daily new cases.
National deaths continue to average at about 700 per day in October.
Against the advice of top public health experts, President Donald Trump, alongside some White House officials, on Monday endorsed a push to enact a “herd immunity” approach to combating the virus, which would mean fully reopening and allowing the virus to rapidly infect enough people to stop spreading.
The controversial strategy has been condemned by the World Health Organization, calling the approach “dangerous” and “unethical.” The organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said herd immunity is best achieved when people have been vaccinated, not by letting a virus uncontrollably spread.
“Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it,” he said, according to the BBC.