Coronavirus update: Fresno adds more than 1,000 new cases with another surge expected
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in Fresno County, with at least 68,740 total cases and 711 deaths reported since March. As of Monday, the county added a total of 1,256 over the weekend.
On New Year’s Day, local health officials said an additional 65 people had died. The county typically reports deaths twice a week, but Friday’s tally was the first in 10 days due to the holiday period.
The 14-day rolling average of new cases is about 951 cases per day.
The upward trend of new cases is likely to continue well into the New Year, as health officials across the country warn holiday gatherings will fuel an increase in infections and hospitalizations.
The central San Joaquin Valley region remains under the regional stay-at-home order with 0% ICU availability at local hospitals. The Valley region includes Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, San Benito, San Joaquin, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties.
Fresno County has averaged about 634 hospitalized patients over the last two weeks and about 715 cases a day for the past seven days. Currently, the county has 628 hospitalized patients, 131 of which were in the ICU. There were 10 open and staffed ICU beds as of Saturday.
Fresno Trader Joe’s closed after anti-mask protest
Following an anti-mask protest Saturday night, Fresno’s Trader Joe’s market closed early when demonstrators protesting the grocery store chain’s mask requirement blocked the store entrance, local police said.
Police did not arrest anyone, they confirmed.
Protests against mask-wearing or any attempt by government agencies or merchants to mandate and enforce their use continue to occur despite a nationwide increase in new cases. The protest in Fresno is no different, appearing to be the latest incident in a national “Burn the Mask” movement.
California requires everyone in the state to wear a mask or other face-covering when outside their home, with limited exceptions. Trader Joe’s, on the chain’s website, also mandates that customers wear a face covering while shopping inside the store.
Fresno Police said the decision to close the store was made by Trader Joe’s corporate office — not by the police.
Fresno reports no New Year’s Eve citations
Fresno did not report any $1,000 fines for gatherings of 50 people or more on New Year’s Eve or Day, local city officials confirmed Saturday.
The Fresno City Council adopted a policy Thursday to fine New Year’s Eve party organizers and property owners following multiple reports of illegal underground parties and gatherings.
The 5-2 decision to levy $1,000 fines for first offenses came during a special meeting just hours before parties were set to begin on the holiday. The no votes came from Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Paul Caprioglio, according to Council President Miguel Arias.
Code enforcement officers could still issue fines if they determine there is enough evidence of a gathering. The policy states that repeated offenses could go up to $10,000, similar to other COVID-19 violations.
California case count continues to mount
California remains in a critical stage of the coronavirus pandemic as one of the states with the largest outbreaks. The surge has hospitals across a majority of the state either already overwhelmed or bracing for that in the near future.
California is now entering the first week of 2021 with just shy of 2.4 million lab-confirmed cases and over 26,500 COVID-19 deaths across the state, with at least 45,000 new cases and 181 deaths added as of Sunday. Those totals reflect numbers through the second day of the New Year.
California has added more than 500,000 cases and about 4,000 deaths in the past two weeks, which averages to about 38,000 infections and 282 fatalities per day.
The state’s ICU availability has been 0% for well over a week, driven by the lack of hospital resources and beds in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.
As of Sunday, there were 21,510 hospitalized patients in the state’s hospitals. Of those, 4,613 were in the ICU.
National cases expected to surge following holiday travel
National public health experts are attributing the ongoing coronavirus surge, which started to take off in early November, to holiday gatherings and events that began with Halloween coupled with societal pandemic fatigue.
There are now more than 20.6 million cases and 351,682 deaths nationwide. The number of new cases increased by 201,980 as of Monday, while 1,353 new deaths were added. There are currently 125,544 hospitalizations, where 23,231 of those individuals remain in the ICU, according to the covid tracking project.
The nation is averaging 205,840 new cases daily, decreasing by a mere 5% from the average in mid-December.
Following the holidays, officials reported more than 1,192,881 passengers had passed through security checkpoints in American airports, marking the busiest traveling day of the pandemic since it began.
The Transportation Security Administration reported more than 16.3 million trips through its checkpoints since Dec. 18, the New York Times reports, down by more than 35.4 million in the same period just one year ago. Officials expect that tens of millions more people had also traveled by car.