Coronavirus update: Here’s where Fresno County stands today ahead of reopening update
The California Department of Public Health on Monday reported 122 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Fresno County after a weekend in which more than 400 additional infections were added, bringing the county’s total to 32,619.
The county reported 1,006 new cases over the past week, including 545 infections in just three days. On average, Fresno County reported 143 daily new cases over the past seven days.
In total, 454 people have died since the pandemic began. County officials will provide an update on the number of deaths Tuesday.
A total of 21,142 people have recovered, while 109 remain hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, 26 are in the ICU as of Monday.
Fresno County recorded a daily new case rate of 6.3 per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 5.1% since Monday, which keeps the county in the red tier 2 stage. Despite the increase in new cases, Fresno County is likely to maintain its red Tier 2 status for at least one more week, according to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The state will provide its next tier update on Tuesday.
Local and state health officials worry that the upcoming holiday season, coupled with the arrival of colder weather, will lead more people to gather indoors, where there is a much higher risk of COVID-19 spread than from being outside. For months, they have repeatedly cautioned and urged people not to let their guard down with family and friends.
Across the central San Joaquin Valley, 542 new cases were recorded Monday. There have been a total of 75,652 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Valleywide, there have been 1,082 total deaths.
State, national updates
California is on the cusp of reaching 1 million coronavirus infections statewide, reporting a total of 971,851 confirmed cases and 17,977 total deaths as of Monday, according to state data. A total of 7,212 new cases and 14 new deaths were recorded Monday.
For the third consecutive day, California has reported more than 7,000 new cases, with Sunday’s 7,682 and Monday’s 7,212 marking the two highest daily totals total since August, according to state data. The state is averaging more than 5,000 daily new COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks. Before Monday, the weekly daily new case rate hadn’t exceeded 5,000 since early September. The spike in new cases means at least 13 counties across California could face losing their current tier status.
California on Monday surpassed 3,000 hospitalized patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the first time since September, with 838 of them in the ICU.
A 14-day rolling average shows California has recorded around 5,060 daily new cases, while the weekly positivity rate climbed from 2.5% to 3.7% over the past three or so weeks. A total of 19,918,479 tests have been conducted statewide since the pandemic first hit, up nearly 200,000 tests conducted from the day before.
In the past ten days, the daily new case rate reached record levels in more than half the country. As of Monday, the U.S. added 130,553 new COVID-19 infections and 745 new deaths, according to an analysis by The New York Times. There has been an average of 116,448 cases per day over the past week, up 64% from the average two weeks ago. On Tuesday, 10.1 million cases and 238,776 total deaths were reported nationwide since the pandemic began.
State leaders in some of the country’s hardest-hit areas, where weather conditions are worsening and winter temperatures are arriving, initiated stay-at-home advisories. That includes several states in the Northeast, such as Maine, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Monday announced that an early assessment of its experimental coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine is significantly effective in preventing the disease among individuals who had no previous history of infection, according to The New York Times.
The company released a statement on Monday claiming the vaccine, developed in partnership with the German drugmaker BioNTech, was more than 90% effective in preventing the virus among its 43,548 trial volunteers. Pfizer’s analysis showed the vaccine’s early success was a promising development and its progress made it the first company across the globe to demonstrate positive results from a late-stage clinical trial.
It is still unknown whether the vaccine will prevent people from contracting the virus and spreading it to others or only prevent symptoms. The analysis did not yet confirm if the vaccine is safe and effective for mass distribution. In addition, the initial results of more than 90% efficacy could change as the trial continues.