Fresno County coronavirus cases spike. County budget taking hit because of pandemic
Fresno County reported 30 new positive coronavirus cases in its daily late-afternoon update Thursday, bringing the total number to 295.
Fresno County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau gave the update in a Zoom online conference. He’s in charge of county finances, and he painted a gloomy picture because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rousseau said Fresno County expects to receive about $81 million from the federal government in aid through the CARES Act meant to help soften the economic blow from shelter-in-place regulations. The city of Fresno is expected to receive about $94 million, he said.
For the county, that money is expected to pay for coronavirus-related costs such as testing, personal protective equipment and the information technology work it took to move one-third of the county’s employees to remote work.
Property tax collections, which make up 75% of county revenue, are down from last year. Plus, the delinquency rate so far looks like it will be higher, Rousseau said.
He’s already announced a countywide hiring freeze and will review and permit every new hire himself. He met with department leaders and warned them to plan for budget cuts between 3% and 5% in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July. Other counties are looking at drastic cuts, and Rousseau is hoping to avoid that.
Fresno County testing
Rousseau said as testing expanded, county officials expected the case load to increase. “That’s exactly what’s happening,” he said.
“I think my No. 1 frustration with this epidemic is the limited amount of testing that jurisdictions can do, and should do,” he said.
Locally, the county is ramping up its testing. That’s why it partnered with Fresno State to open a lab to process test results and decrease the turnaround time.
“That will help all of us,” Rousseau said. “The more testing we can do, the more contract tracing we can do and the sooner we can get people back to work and life can get back to normal.”
Rousseau repeated how important it is for residents to practice social distancing.
“We don’t want people to get complacent at this time,” he said. “If we’re going to shut the economy down for as long as we have, let’s do it right.”
Fresno County health officials are predicting Fresno County will see its peak in the coming weeks, likely at the end of the month.
Fresno County didn’t report any new coronavirus-related deaths Thursday and has had seven total. Seventy Fresno County residents have recovered from the coronavirus.
Other counties
The Tulare County Health and Human Services agency confirmed two deaths in an online update Thursday, bringing the county’s total to 17. The agency also updated the total number of positive coronavirus cases in the county to 272. The county has added more than 100 new cases this week alone. It has recorded 22 recoveries.
In Madera County, no new cases were reported as of Thursday. The county has had 33 total cases, two deaths and 19 recoveries.
Kings County tallied 18 total cases, adding five in a new report Thursday evening. So far, one Kings County resident has died from COVID-19 and four have recovered.
Merced County officials reported that the county is devoting $3.5 million to the care and shelter of the homeless population due to the coronavirus pandemic. The county’s total cases as of Thursday evening was 82, with three deaths and 28 recoveries.
Mariposa County hasn’t had a positive case.
In its daily update Thursday afternoon the California Department of Public Health said statewide there were 26,182 confirmed cases and 890 deaths.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 5:39 PM.