Masks indoors mandatory starting Wednesday. How did Fresno area contribute to new rule?
A new universal mandate for California residents to wear face coverings in indoor public places took effect Wednesday to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, after health officials cited a statewide increase in the rates of new COVID-19 cases, including in the San Joaquin Valley.
The measures announced Monday by state Secretary of Health & Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly are to be in effect through Jan. 15. And while they don’t mark a return to the color-coded tiers of restrictions that were in place from August 2020 through mid-June 2021, the correlation to rising rates of new coronavirus cases per day is familiar.
As of Monday, Fresno County had an average of 15.3 new cases per 100,000 residents each day over the past week, up from 13.7 per day for the week that included the Thanksgiving holiday.
Since Thanksgiving Day on Nov. 25 through Dec. 13, 3,132 new COVID-19 infections have been reported as confirmed through laboratory testing in Fresno County – about 2.1% of all cases reported by the county since the first patients were identified in early March 2020.
Case rates have also gone up in Kings and Merced counties:
Kings County: A rate of 25.7 new daily cases per 100,000 residents for the seven-day period ending Dec. 13, up from 17.5 new daily cases for the Nov. 29 period. The rate as of Monday was the third-highest among California’s 58 counties. Kings County also has the fourth-highest rate of people who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus, with nearly 60% of residents yet to receive even one dose of vaccine.
Merced County: A rate of 14.9 new daily cases per 100,000 residents for the seven-day period ending Dec. 13, up from 13.4 as of Nov. 29.
But in two other Valley counties, the rates on Monday were lower than the Thanksgiving period. In Madera County, the rate slipped from 17.6 daily cases per 100,000 residents on Nov. 29 to 17.2 as of Monday. And in Tulare County, the rate was down from the Nov. 29 rate of 15.8 daily cases per 100,000 residents to 13.9 on Monday.
More than 99% of all the positive COVID-19 tests submitted in California to laboratories for specialized genomic analysis last month showed those cases were caused by the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus, according to the California Department of Public Health. The Delta variant was first detected in India more than a year ago and has since spread around the world.
So far, only 18 cases of the new, highly publicized Omicron variant first reported last month in southern Africa have been detected in California, the state health department reported.
Ghaly on Monday connected higher rates of new cases to parts of the state with lower vaccination rates. Statewide, more than 64% of the total population has been fully vaccinated – receiving two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Fewer than 29% of all residents are unvaccinated.
Every county in the central San Joaquin Valley lags at least 10 percentage points behind the overall statewide vaccination rate. Fresno County leads the region with 53.8% of all residents fully vaccinated, with just under 40% unvaccinated.
Vaccination rates in other Valley counties are:
- Kings County: 39.4% fully vaccinated, 54.8% unvaccinated.
- Madera County: 48.3% fully vaccinated, 45.6% unvaccinated.
- Mariposa County: 40.3% fully vaccinated, 40.6% unvaccinated.
- Merced County: 44.5% fully vaccinated, 45.0% unvaccinated.
- Tulare County: 47.1% fully vaccinated, 46.6% unvaccinated.
Compared to the tier system
Under the Blueprint for a Safer California, the color-coded set of tiers that was in place for almost 10 months until this summer, each of the Valley counties would currently be in Purple Tier 1, denoting “widespread” transmission of COVID-19 among residents in the county, with a rate of 10 or more new daily cases per 100,000 residents.
The blueprint included different tier thresholds for tightening or easing restrictions and limitations on businesses and activities. At the time that the tiers were lifted in June, Fresno County’s new-case rate was 2.3 per day per 100,000 residents, at the lower end of Orange Tier 3, the second-least restrictive level of the blueprint.
Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties were all on the verge of earning Yellow Tier 4, the most relaxed tier of limitations.
Within weeks of what was billed as a “full reopening” of California’s economy from the tier restrictions, all five Valley counties saw their case rates climbing back into what would have been the most-restrictive purple tier.
Since August, none of the Valley counties have even sniffed at a case rate of 10 or fewer per 100,000 residents – the former floor of the blueprint’s purple tier.
Cases to date
Through Tuesday afternoon, more than 323,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Valley since March 2020. Of those, 4,817 patients succumbed to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes.
By county, case totals include:
- Fresno County: 146,641 cases to date, including 2,312 deaths.
- Kings County: 33,753 cases, including 374 deaths.
- Madera County: 24,179 cases, including 315 deaths.
- Mariposa County: 1,657 cases, including 18 deaths.
- Merced County: 46,234 cases, including 687 deaths.
- Tulare County: 70,724 cases, including 1,111 deaths.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 3:47 PM.
