COVID-19 updates: Surge in Fresno, Valley cases not matched in six months. See latest data
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Fresno County has averaged more than 280 new cases of coronavirus each day over the past week, sending the county’s total of confirmed cases over nearly 19 months of the COVID-19 pandemic to more than 108,000, including 1,753 deaths.
In a surge that erupted about a month ago – the third wave of growing cases since March 2020 – the daily pace of new infections is a level not seen in Fresno County in six months.
Since Aug. 1, Fresno County and state health officials have reported 3,554 new coronavirus cases.
Across the central San Joaquin Valley – Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties – nearly 4,000 new infections have been confirmed this week through Friday, and almost 7,400 since Aug. 1. The Valley’s total case count since the first cases were identified in March 2020 now stands at 236,886.
The Valley’s death toll from COVID-19 crossed the 3,600 threshold this week, as 13 fatalities since Sunday in the region pushed the number of fatalities attributed to the virus and its respiratory disease to 3,609.
Hospitalizations for coronavirus continue to rise along with the surge in new cases, also reaching their highest levels since mid-February, when the region was on a downhill trajectory after a fierce winter peak that severely strained medical capacity in Fresno County and the Valley.
As of Thursday, 471 patients in the six-county region were in hospitals across the central San Joaquin Valley for treatment of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections, including 274 patients in Fresno County.
This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 8:54 AM.
