Coronavirus update: Fresno reports nearly 300 new cases following Thanksgiving
With the holiday season in full swing, 294 positive COVID-19 cases were reported in Fresno County through Saturday night, raising the total to 38,288 since the pandemic began in the spring.
Four hundred eighty-one deaths attributed to the virus were reported since the pandemic began, including 10 deaths in the past week in the most recent update.
The number of confirmed hospitalized patients rose to 278, an increase of four from the previous day, according to state data. An additional 32 were suspected COVID-positive patients, increasing by 12 from the day before. Of those hospitalized, 57 were in an ICU.
Local officials in the past week reported 2,359 new cases or about 241 per 100,000 residents. Over the past seven days, Fresno County has averaged about 331 new cases and 1.4 daily new deaths.
The surge in new infections kept many people home for Black Friday, one of the biggest national shopping days of the year. Shoppers showed up, but there weren’t huge crowds early in the morning seen in previous years.
With Fresno County in California’s most restrictive purple tier of coronavirus safety measures, stores are allowed to have 25% of their maximum capacity at a time.
California considers strict stay-at-home orders
Coronavirus cases are rising so rapidly that Gov. Gavin Newsom says if trends continue he will reimpose strict stay-at-home orders like he issued in March to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.
Newsom made the announcement Monday while detailing grim new COVID-19 statistics. California’s average daily case rate over the last week has exceeded 14,000. That’s far higher than the previous peak in July, when the average daily case rate hit about 9,880.
That number foreshadows deep trouble for hospitals, as about 12% of people testing positive today are expected to be hospitalized. That could cause the number of COVID-19 patients in California hospitals to double or triple in a month, Newsom said. As many as 30% of hospitalized patients need intensive care.
By Christmas Eve, the state’s projections show California will hit 78% hospital capacity. In some areas, including the Central Valley, that percentage will be even higher.
If infection rates don’t slow, California is on track to exceed its intensive care unit capacity by mid-December.
State updates
As of the most recent update, California reported a total of 1,183,320 positive COVID-19 cases, the highest of any state in the U.S, with 19,089 deaths reported, state officials confirmed.
The weekly average number of positive cases rose to 6.2%, significantly increasing from last month’s 2.4%.
To slow the rapid resurgence of the outbreak, state officials last week required most California counties to close back down some businesses by prohibiting indoor dining and other operations. The state also implemented a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m to slow the spread.
Last week, California had just two counties in the least-restrictive yellow Tier 1 of its Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Now, there are none, with six California counties falling back into the red Tier 3 and one in the less restrictive orange Tier 2. The remaining 51 counties are in the most restrictive purple tier.
Tier assignments are subject to change at any time and can now occur more than once during the week when new cases surge, according to the California Department of Public Health.
National cases surpass 13 million
Across the U.S., more than 1.2 million cases were reported in the past week, averaging about 162,007 cases per day, and alarming public health experts who said Thanksgiving gatherings could contribute to a large increase of new cases over the coming weeks.
As of Sunday, 136,313 new cases and 818 new deaths were reported nationwide, according to an analysis from The New York Times. The number of people hospitalized totaled 93,219 as of Sunday. The average daily case rate had increased by 8% from two weeks ago.
A total of 13,447,300 Americans have been infected with the virus, and 266,758 have died. The daily tally of deaths has been rising quickly, exceeding 2,000 in a single day for the first time since May.
Thanksgiving travel? Time to quarantine
Health officials implored people not to gather over Thanksgiving with family, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that is crowding hospitals, leaving some understaffed. But hundreds of thousands of California did so anyway.
Now, those health officials have another request:
Anyone who gathered in a family setting this past weekend should assume for the moment that they have the virus. That means quarantining for 14 days.
People don’t necessarily need to take an immediate virus test because the test may not catch a gestating virus, misleading the person into thinking they are negative when they are in fact infected and asymptomatic.
Key steps, according to Yolo County Health Officer Aimee Sisson:
- Quarantine at home if you traveled, especially if you went to a place where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, which is happening in much of California and the country.
- Don’t gather this week with coworkers.
- If you need groceries or food, get it delivered to your house.
- If you take a post-Thanksgiving virus test that comes in negative, it should not shorten the 14-day quarantine period, because the virus may not be immediately detectable.
- Don’t travel for the next holiday (i.e. Christmas).
Moderna to roll out vaccines by the end of December
The drug company Moderna, which last week announced its vaccine was more than 90% effective, confirmed Monday it plans on applying for emergency authorization of its vaccine by late December.
Moderna last week was the second company after Pfizer to release data from its late-stage clinical trial, where more than 30,000 participants showed the vaccine was 94.5% effective. As of Monday, the pharmaceutical said its vaccine was now 94.1% effective but was 100% effective in preventing serious complications from the virus.
If the Food and Drug Administration grants approval, the first set of vaccinations could begin by Dec. 21, The New York Times reports.
The Sacramento Bee’s Sophia Bollag and Tony Bizjak contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 8:14 AM.