Coronavirus update: Fresno County leaders quarantined; nearly 100 new cases reported
The California Department of Public Health reported 96 new coronavirus infections in Fresno County on Thursday, bringing the total to 31,952 cases.
As of Thursday, a total of 447 people have died in Fresno County. Health officials update the death toll on Tuesdays and Fridays.
One hundred nineteen patients were reportedly hospitalized since Thursday, while 20,816 people have recovered.
Fresno County on Friday remained in the red Tier 2 status within California’s four-tier, color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The county continues to teeter on the edge of remaining qualified for the less restrictive tier, showing a new daily case rate of 6.3 per 100,000 residents. The county needs to stay under seven new cases per 100,000 residents each day to stay in the red tier. The positivity rate remains at 5.1% and needs to remain below 8% to stay in the red tier.
Fresno County on Friday announced the Board of Supervisors administrative offices will be temporarily closed following the positive COVID-19 diagnosis of a county supervisor. Fresno County officials on Friday confirmed Supervisor Steve Brandau was the person who tested positive for COVID-19.
County supervisors and staff on Thursday were told to quarantine. About 30 employees will work from home for two weeks.
Though staff and the public remain at low risk, the office closures have been ordered as a precautionary measure. Public services will still be available as staff will continue to work from home.
It is unclear how the two-week quarantine will impact the next supervisor’s meeting on Nov. 17.
Valleywide updates
Across the central San Joaquin Valley, there have been a total of 74,091 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began and 1,069 deaths.
A total of 341 new coronavirus cases across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties were reported as of Wednesday, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
State, national updates
California continues to inch its way closer to recording nearly 1 million coronavirus infections, reaching 944,576 confirmed cases Thursday, according to state data. A total of 4,566 new cases were recorded Thursday. The state reported a total of 17,815 COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday, an increase of 63 deaths since Wednesday. The government reported a daily new case rate of 7.7 per 100,000 residents on Friday.
A 14-day rolling average shows California has recorded around 4,561 daily new cases, while the positivity rate slightly increased to 3.4%. A total of 19,266,363 tests statewide have been conducted since the pandemic first hit.
Statewide, 2,712 patients were hospitalized, and 814 were in intensive care units.
The U.S. hit a daily new record of coronavirus infections, reporting more than 121,000 new cases in a single day, according to a New York Times analysis. Sixteen states hit a daily new record for the first time, and three had death records. Five additional states reported more cases in the past week than in any other seven day period, bringing the total to 28.
There has been an average of 96,275 cases per day in the past week, a 54% increase from two weeks earlier. On Wednesday, the increase was 51%. About 53,322 people remain hospitalized across the country, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project.
Nearly 235,331 people across the country have died from contracting COVID-19., while more than 9.6 million people have tested positive since the pandemic began. Across the nation, 121,504 new COVID-19 cases and 1,108 new deaths were reported nationwide on Friday, according to a New York Times analysis. The number of fatalities has exceeded 1,000 for the third consecutive day.
As the country awaits the results of this year’s presidential election, The Associated Press on Friday found that 93% of U.S. counties with the highest recorded number of new COVID-19 cases per capita overwhelmingly voted to re-elect President Donald Trump.
About 93% of voters across 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita opted for Trump, a rate above other less severely hit areas, an Associated Press analysis shows.
The majority were in rural areas in some of the hardest-hit states, including counties in Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Top public health experts worry Americans are “giving up” on combating the spread of the virus, The Washington Post reports. They hope those sentiments will change once the election is over.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 8:44 AM.