Fresno County adds 366 new cases of COVID-19. Newsom talks more unemployment benefits
Fresno County reported 366 new cases of the conronavirus but no new deaths on Wednesday, the day after reporting 20 new fatal cases.
At 191 fatal cases since the beginning of the pandemic, Fresno County is creeping closer to Tulare County, which leads all central San Joaquin Valley counties with 205 deaths.
Fresno County has now tallied 18,344 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to state Department of Public Health numbers.
Of those patients, 7,276 have recovered from COVID-19, Fresno County reported.
The central San Joaquin Valley Valley region has reported an average of close to 10 deaths each day so far in August. There were nearly 30 deaths reported in Fresno, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties on Tuesday alone.
In July, 208 deaths, or 6.7 each day, were attributed to coronavirus.
The state added 12,500 cases Tuesday and more than 11,600 Wednesday to push California’s total tally past 586,000 infections.
California’s coronavirus death toll has continued to climb, reaching 10,648 with 180 reported Wednesday.
Valley schools won’t get special permission to open
School districts in Fresno and Tulare counties will not be approved for a waiver to reopen elementary schools until the number of positive COVID-19 cases decreases, according to public health officials.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all private and public K-12 schools in counties that are on the state’s watch list for surging coronavirus cases to remain closed. Many counties in the central San Joaquin Valley — including Tulare, Fresno, Kings, and Merced — are being monitored by the state.
New unemployment benefits
President Donald Trump’s current proposal for additional unemployment benefits of $300 a week just doesn’t go far enough, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Wednesday press conference.
But he said he won’t “look a gift horse in the mouth” now that Trump has said states do not have to come up with another $100 a week on their own. The Democratic governor said he’s working on how California can process the $300 in the president’s proposal “as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Other Valley counties
Tulare County reported 94 new cases on Wednesday, which pushes the total to 11,643. The total of 205 deaths didn’t change since the previous day.
Merced County’s 122 new cases on Wednesday made the total 6,224. No new deaths were reported, and its total remains at 74.
Madera County tallied four new deaths to reach 44 total since the pandemic began. Another 169 cases makes the total positives there 2,759.
Mariposa County did not report any new cases Wednesday, and remains at 63 positive patients and two deaths.
Kings County reached 5,127 cases after reporting 60 new cases on Wednesday. The number of fatal cases remained at 62.
Since the pandemic began in March, 5.1 million Americans have tested positive for the virus, including more than 574,000 in California, according to The COVID Tracking Project and Johns Hopkins University CSSE.
Almost 10,500 people in the state have died from issues related to COVID-19.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 4:28 PM.
