Coronavirus cases creep higher in Fresno area. What milestones are ahead for region?
With 118 new coronavirus infections reported Wednesday among Fresno County residents, the county inched closer to 32,000 cases of COVID-19 since early March.
The latest report from the California Department of Public Health pushes the county’s total to 31,856 people who – at some point since the first local case was confirmed on March 6 – have tested positive for the virus.
Over the past week, Fresno County has averaged about 109 new cases every day. At that rate, the county could push beyond 32,000 cases on Thursday or Friday.
The updated count comes on the same day that the state health department kept Fresno County assigned to red Tier 2 of its four-tier, color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Each tier addresses the degrees to which businesses may reopen from sweeping restrictions put in place at the local and state levels in the spring and summer to clamp down on the potential for spreading the contagion.
Around the Valley
Wednesday’’s coronavirus case updates from central San Joaquin Valley counties are:
Fresno County: 118 new cases reported by the state, 31,856 to date; no additional deaths, 447 to date. Fresno County updates fatalities on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Kings County: 42 new cases Wednesday, 8,715 to date; no additional deaths, 84 to date. Almost 4,000 of Kings County’s cases, including nine deaths, are among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 24 new cases Wednesday, 5,182 to date; no additional deaths, 76 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases Wednesday, 81 to date; no additional deaths, two to date.
Merced County: 61 new cases Wednesday, 9,880 to date; one additional death, 161 to date.
Tulare County: 64 new cases Wednesday, 18,117 to date; two additional deaths, 297 to date.
Across the six-county region, 73,831 people have contracted COVID-19 since the first local cases of the global pandemic hit in March. Of those, the deaths of 1,067 Valley residents have been attributed to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes.
As Fresno approaches the 32,000-case threshold, the Valley is likely to pass 74,000 cumulative cases this week, as well.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 4:25 PM.
