Coronavirus update: Fresno County adds more than 1,000 infections in a single day
Fresno County increased its coronavirus caseload by nearly 1,100 new infections Wednesday, raising the total to more than 78,000 cases to date.
County health officials reported 1,070 new infections Wednesday, which pools into the total of 77,651 countywide infections. The total number of cases within the greater central San Joaquin Valley climbed to almost 170,000, increasing by nearly 2,000 infections as of Wednesday. The rise in numbers indicates a continuing surge of the virus, which first appeared about 10 months ago.
The death toll remained at 846 as of Wednesday.
The county has averaged 954 new cases in the past week, based on data that shows the county recorded a total of 6,680 new infections.
Hospitals in Fresno County are currently treating 675 patients with confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, where about 109 of them are in the ICU.
About 1,090 coronavirus patients were reported to be in hospitals in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties. Both the Fresno County and Valleywide hospitalization figures are about double what they were at this time last month.
About 500 people dying per day across California
California health officials reported 41,526 new cases on Wednesday, pushing the state past a total of 2.8 million statewide infections. The number of deaths also rose on Wednesday to 31,645, up by 589 from the day before.
There has been an average of 44,138 daily new cases over the past week, while the average number of people dying from the virus per day had reached about 514 daily deaths over the last week, increasing 104.4% from two weeks ago.
The virus has hit California particularly hard, especially in Los Angeles County, where at least one person has been dying due to the virus every eight minutes, a New York Times analysis shows.
Hospitalizations across the state continue to skyrocket as more than 22,453 patients remain in hospitals, with 4,908 in the ICU.
On Wednesday, California health officials said they would start prioritizing seniors over age 65 for the state’s COVID-19 vaccine, positioning them right after health care workers and skilled nursing home residents to receive the new drug.
The move was made in response to the disease’s higher death rate for older people.
The new guidelines come just one month into the state’s massive but struggling effort to inject up to 40 million Californians.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday confirmed the new standards mean roughly 6.6 million Californians are now eligible for the vaccine.
1 in 10 in Congress have tested positive for COVID-19
There were a total of 23.1 million coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, up by 230,476 cases from the day before. At least 384,804 of the total number of people who have gotten sick had also died as of Wednesday, up by 3,922 new deaths.
The number of hospitalizations continues to surge, with 130,383 reported Wednesday, where 23,877 were in ICU.
There has been an average of 246,354 new cases per day over the past week, a New York Times analysis shows.
The country reached a new record of more than 4,400 deaths on Tuesday, which means it is now quickly approaching a total of about 400,000 deaths.
More than one in 10 members of Congress have at one point tested positive or were suspected of having COVID-19, representing at least 61 current members. The list of infected Congress members includes 44 Republicans and 16 Democrats across both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Together, both bodies are made up of 535 members.
The percentage of infected people is a higher proportion than the general population at 6.5% compared to about 1 in 14 Americans from the population at large, the New York Times reports. The infection rate is likely to change since many cases have not yet been reported due to the holidays.
Following the attack on the Capitol last week, at least five House members had reported a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Many of the newly infected Congressmembers say they got sick from huddling in a secure location together, where some refused to wear masks.
Congress’ attending physician said this was the likely reason why many of the members who got sick were exposed.
No representatives have died from complications related to the coronavirus as of yet, though Republican congressman-elect from Louisiana, Luke Letlow, 41, died from the virus just days before being sworn in.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 8:48 AM.