Coronavirus update: Fresno on watch for virus surge from holiday; Black Friday slow
Experts are warning of a potential spike in coronavirus cases now that the Thanksgiving weekend is nearly over in Fresno County, where numbers have been climbing.
Fresno County has tallied 37,994 cases and 481 deaths, according to numbers posted Saturday by state health officials that reflect positive cases through the night before.
The county’s total includes a daily increase of 270 positive results through Friday night. It snapped a streak of seven straight days of 300-plus new cases, though officials caution not to rely heavily on one-day changes.
The number of patients from the county hospitalized with coronavirus-related complications rose by nine to 274.
As with many other states, cases of COVID-19 have been skyrocketing for weeks in California. A record 18,350 were reported Tuesday, surpassing the previous daily high of more than 15,000 cases announced Saturday.
In reaction to the surge, California has imposed an overnight curfew. More states are requiring masks, including those with GOP governors who have long resisted them. The nation’s top health officials pleaded with Americans to avoid Thanksgiving travel.
Thanksgiving may be the beginning of a dark holiday season as the surge in coronavirus cases is likely to persist, or even get worse, through December, January and February, Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation Dr. Anthony Fauci told USA Today.
California health officials have reported a total of 1,158,689 COVID-19 cases.
In the rest of the San Joaquin Valley region, Madera has 6,003 cases; Kings has 10,475; Merced has 11,440; Mariposa has 116; and Tulare has 20,649.
49ers seek temporary home field
Add the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers to the list of businesses further crippled by tougher restrictions in the wake of surging coronavirus caseloads in California.
The 49ers face the loss of a place to practice and play homes cames for the next three weeks amid new orders in Santa Clara County.
Per the county’s new health guidelines, The Sacramento Bee reports, contact sports will be prohibited in the county for a minimum of the next three weeks. That means the 49ers, Stanford football team, San Jose State football team and the San Jose Sharks will all be impacted, at the least.
The 49ers this week are in Los Angeles to play the Rams, but two home games follow on their schedule.
Fresno State’s football game against San Jose State on Nov. 21 was canceled due to contact tracing protocols following one confirmed positive coronavirus test within the Bulldogs’ program.
Continued tracing issues led to the cancellation as well of this week’s Fresno State game, which had been scheduled for Friday, against San Diego State.
Mariposa backslides into a more restrictive tier
Forty-five of California’s 58 counties now reside in the purple tier 4, the most restrictive under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Mariposa County was last week one of only two counties in the yellow Tier 1, the least restrictive tier for business openings. This week Mariposa slid back into orange Tier 3.
Eight other counties are in red Tier 2, denoting “substantial” risk of viral transmission. Five counties are in orange Tier 3, where risk of spread is considered “moderate.”
Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties all remained in the purple tier along with Fresno County in Tuesday’s update to tier assignments.
Fresno’s coronavirus timeline
The coronavirus pandemic has brought many twists and turns to Fresno County since the first local case was reported on March 6.
From the continuing march of cases and deaths, along with business closures — and reopenings and reclosures — COVID-19 has wrought havoc on everyday life for many of the county’s residents.
The Bee has compiled this ongoing timeline of key dates, events and milestones for readers to explore.
An unusual Black Friday in Fresno
The coronavirus pandemic kept many people home for the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season. People came out to shop, but there weren’t huge crowds early in the morning like in years past, leaving it looking something like an average weekday.
With Fresno County in the purple tier of COVID-19 restrictions, stores can only have 25% of their maximum capacity of shoppers at a time.
Business throughout Fresno picked up later in the day, with a long line of people waiting to get into Best Buy in River Park. Fashion Fair got busier, too, with people having difficulty finding a parking spot.
LA goes on lockdown
Skyrocketing COVID-19 case numbers have triggered a mandatory three-week “Safer at Home” order for Los Angeles County. The lockdown begins on Monday and lasts through Dec. 20.
The order is tougher than anything imposed in California since March, when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order that applied to the entire state. The Los Angeles County order doesn’t go as far as Newsom’s order, as it still allows the public to utilize non-essential retail, such as malls, and personal care services, such as nail salons, at limited capacity.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 10:39 AM.
