Coronavirus update, Oct. 21: Death toll tops 1,000 in central San Joaquin Valley
The central San Joaquin Valley region has officially hit more than 1,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,020 deaths were attributed to the COVID-19 disease that first began to infect local residents in March. The six-county total number of cases climbed to 70,045 people infected.
But on Tuesday, it was still clear that the infection and death rate in the Valley has slowed, as it has in much of California the past few days and weeks.
The Valley’s infection curve is much flatter than the distinct upslope that was evident this summer, according to the data. One hundred and one new cases were added Tuesday, bringing the Fresno County total to 30,152.
On Tuesday, the county was also allowed to remain in the red tier of reopening, meaning no changes to the still-limited commercial activity allowed.
To avoid creeping back into the most restrictive, officials hope businesses and residents practice the safest of protocols to maintain a low number of infections.
That is the case in much of California, which seems to be beating a third major wave of infection even as most states see infections climb again.
The state has been here before. Being the first in the nation to issue a shelter-in-place order, it managed to avoid many infections. But by the Fourth of July, cases had grown due to an ease of restrictions. The state has improved testing capacity since then.
By Tuesday, the state has seen 874,077 confirmed infections and 16,992 deaths from the virus.
Now health officials are looking at the rest of the country to determine what is causing the spike in cases. In some cases, it is attributed to the arrival of fall and winter.
The new wave brings with it a concern it could be the worse the country has seen of the pandemic. As of Tuesday morning, the United States has recorded 8.3 million people infected with the coronavirus and at least 220,900 who have died, according to a New York Times database.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 8:18 AM.
