Coronavirus update: Fresno’s immunization pace slows as hazardous weather hammers U.S.

White House officials said on Friday that the hazardous winter conditions plaguing much of the county had delayed delivery of 6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, impacting all 50 states.

The delayed doses amount to a three-day supply nationwide, and the effects of the weather on delivery are expected to carry into next week. In many California counties, public health departments have had to slow or temporarily close vaccination sites or reschedule appointments, including in Fresno County.

More than 40% of the vaccine doses county officials expected to receive have been delayed.

“In Fresno County, there are 7,800 Moderna (vaccine) doses that have been impacted by cold weather conditions across the country and have not been delivered as of (Thursday) morning to various Fresno County sites,” Joe Prado, community health manager for the county department of public health, said this week.

“We do not have a date when these doses will be delivered. We are working with medical providers in the community to provide them with the necessary doses from our supply this week to avoid cancellation of appointments.”

What does the delay in vaccine distribution look like on the ground? It’s stark, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its daily count of total doses administered across the country.

On Feb. 12, there were 2,192,235 vaccine doses administered across the U.S., the most of any day since the very first shots went into arms in mid-December.

The numbers fell on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, a Saturday and a Sunday; Sunday also was Valentine’s Day.

But on Feb. 15, the number of new doses administered reported to the CDC was back up to 975,538.

On Feb. 16, it was 1,213,218.

On Feb. 17, it dipped slightly to 1,152,017.

And on Feb. 18, the data reported Friday, the number of new coronavirus vaccine doses administered was down to just 131,018, the weather not only impacting delivery and distribution but the ability for people to get to a vaccination site, or with power outages in many states for those sites to remain open.

Of that total, 74,826 were second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

All reported numbers could change over time as historical data are reported to the CDC, but on Friday the 7-day moving average fell to 1,060,053 on Feb. 18 from 1,553,324 on Feb. 12.

Updates from around the Central San Joaquin Valley

Fresno County public health officials reported 179 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, with a total of 93,734.

The single-day test positivity rate was 10.7%.

There also were 11 new deaths in the county and now a total of 1,367. The county is listing 307 coronavirus patients hospitalized, a decrease of four over the previous day, though the California Department of Public Health still has a lower number at 289 hospitalizations.

Here are the latest updates from counties in the Central Valley

Kings County

• 77 new cases; 15,153 total
• 0 new deaths; 201 total

Madera County

• 35 new cases; 15,153 total
• 0 new deaths; 201 total

Mariposa County

• 1 new case; 389 total
• 0 new deaths; 7 total

Merced County

• 104 new cases; 28,489 total
• 4 new deaths; 388 total

Tulare County

• 88 new cases; 47,399 total
• 3 new deaths; 720 total

Statewide there were 6,798 new cases reported on Friday, according to the CDPH, which is slightly higher than the 7-day average of 6,700. The 14-day average is 8,575.

There also were 420 new deaths, higher than both the 7-day and 14-day averages of 335 and 380. The CDPH is reporting a total of 48,344 coronavirus-related deaths in the state since the start of the pandemic.

The U.S. is now over 28 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

It is reported 28,006,095 cases and 495,804 deaths in an early-Saturday morning update.

Cases in 0-17 age group increasing

Over the past 14 days the number of new coronavirus cases in the 0 to 17 age group in California have increased at a higher percentage than in the 18 to 49, the 50 to 64 and the 65 and older age groups.

On Feb. 4 there were 422,274 confirmed coronavirus cases among those 0 to 17, according to the CDPH. On Friday, reporting data through Feb. 18, there were 440,098 cases, an increase of 4.22%.

The 65 and older age group saw an increase since Feb. 4 of 4.21%. The percentage increase was 3.71% for those in the 50 to 64 age group and 3.36% for those 18 to 49.