Coronavirus update: Fresno County tops 5,500 cases in just two days
Less than a week before Christmas, the California Department of Public Health reported more than 5,500 cases in Fresno County over the weekend, up by 2,785 on Sunday and 2,725 on Saturday. That brings the county’s total case count to 55,428 since March.
Deaths remained at 557. Public health officials are expected to provide another update on the number of deaths Tuesday. The number of recoveries also remained at 26,742.
There were 745 more cases reported Friday by California’s Department of Health Services after it showed more than 1,800 new confirmed infections in the county on Thursday. The past four days marked some of the highest totals ever reported during the pandemic, with Sunday’s case count representing a new single-day record. The number of new cases capped a devastating week of mostly daily four-digit increases.
The county has reported an average of about 1,367 new cases per day, increasing by more than 342% since two weeks ago. On average, about two Fresno residents are dying per day, according to the most recent state data.
As of Saturday, Fresno County’s positivity rate calculated from the past two weeks was at 23.3%, according to the state, which means about a quarter of Fresno county residents had tested positive for the virus.
There are about 605 hospitalized patients, with 109 of them in the ICU. As of Sunday, only eight ICU beds are available across Fresno County for a population of almost a million residents.
Throughout the San Joaquin Valley, ICU availability at hospitals was listed at 0%, according to the state health department.
As a result, Fresno County officials late on Friday announced ambulance crews were being told to assess patients and deny them rides to hospitals if they are not true emergencies. The measure is meant to contain the number of patients in Fresno County hospitals, as emergency rooms throughout the county and in neighboring Valley counties are full with COVID-19 patients and other serious illnesses.
The new policy went into effect Friday night and applies to ambulance crews in Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare counties.
As of last week, hospitals across Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare counties were treating nearly 900 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients, with 153 patients in the ICU.
Newsom in quarantine again after second COVID-19 exposure
There are now an estimated 1,859,043 confirmed coronavirus cases in California, up by 19,749 Sunday and 34,877 Saturday. The number of people who have died statewide is about 22,666, up by 68 residents and 157 residents Saturday.
California over the last week averaged 41,504 cases and about 232 deaths per day.
About 16,843 people statewide are hospitalized with a positive diagnosis. Of those, 3,614 are in the ICU.
In the past week, the state’s positivity rate had reached 11.7% while ICU bed capacity dropped to 2.1%, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is in quarantine again after being exposed to a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19, the governor’s office confirmed Sunday evening.
Though Newsom and other staff members who were in contact with the infected person tested negative on Sunday, the latest exposure marks the second time Newsom has had to quarantine during the pandemic, officials confirmed Sunday. Newsom will quarantine for ten days, in accordance with the state’s newest safety protocol, which shortened the quarantine period from 14 days to ten.
Federal government reaches deal on $900 billion stimulus package
With an additional 179,801 coronavirus cases reported Sunday, the latest figures show the U.S. has now reached up to 17.8 million total cases. There were an additional 1,422 deaths reported Sunday, totaling 317,800 Americans who have died since the pandemic began.
Of those who have tested positive, 113,663 remain hospitalized. On average, about 216,070 Americans are getting sick every day, according to the most recent numbers from the past week, increasing by 10% from two weeks earlier.
After a months-long battle between both parties in Congress, the nation’s top leaders late Sunday night announced they had struck a deal on a new $900 billion coronavirus relief package that will go towards helping jobless Americans, businesses in desperate need of aid, overwhelmed hospitals and schools lacking in funding, The New York Times reports.
Now that the country has rolled out its first coronavirus vaccine dosages, the money will also go towards additional vaccine distribution efforts.
Following the same requirements from the first stimulus bill, the second relief package will provide $600 stimulus checks to Americans earning $75,000 or less per year and an additional $600 if they have children.
The bill also has extended unemployment benefits for Americans who have lost their jobs, including a bonus of an additional $300 per week in federal unemployment insurance. For those that can’t afford to put food on the table, the relief package will also provide about $13 billion for food assistance.
The bill also states that businesses struggling to stay afloat will receive more than $284 billion more in loans to pay for rent and employees. About $69 billion will go towards testing and vaccine distribution efforts, while $82 billion will fund schools and universities. With many Americans being driven out of their homes, the bill also includes an additional $25 billion in rental assistance funds for residents nationwide and a one-month eviction moratorium extension.
Congressional leaders in the House of Representatives are expected to vote on approving and finalizing the bill sometime this week, as early as Monday, before it proceeds to the Senate. If it is approved by both bodies, the bill will head to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.