COVID-19 cases surpass 21,000 in Fresno County. Which Valley towns have the most cases?
The number of people confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus over the past six months surpassed 21,000 in Fresno County, according to estimates released Monday afternoon by the state Department of Health Services.
That’s an increase of more than 1,100 cases since Friday, and almost 6,000 cases of COVID-19 since Aug. 1 — or an average of almost 390 new cases each day in August in Fresno County.
Among California’s 58 counties, Fresno County has the seventh-highest cumulative total of confirmed infections, behind Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Kern counties.
And, combined with new cases reported Monday in Madera, Merced and Tulare counties, Fresno’s totals vaulted the central San Joaquin Valley region to more than 49,000 confirmed infections since the first local cases were identified March 6.
That’s an increase throughout the six-county area of more than 10,000 cases since Aug. 1.
At least five additional deaths attributed by county health officers to COVID-19 were also reported on Monday, bringing the total number of lives lost across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mariposa and Tulare counties to 617.
Around the Valley, Monday’s updates included:
Fresno County: 1,110 new cases reported over the past two days, 21,010 to date; no additional deaths, 203 deaths to date; 8,425 people recovered.
Kings County: 29 new cases Monday, 5,543 to date; no additional deaths, 66 to date; 3,183 people recovered. Nearly 2,080 of Kings County’s cases are associated with state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 205 new cases since its last update Friday afternoon, pushing the county beyond the 3,000-case threshold to a total of 3,129 to date; no additional deaths, 47 deaths to date; 2,190 people recovered.
Merced County: 264 new cases since Friday, pushing the county past 7,000 cases to a total of 7,041 to date; four additional deaths, 93 deaths to date; 4,326 people recovered.
Tulare County: 346 new cases since Friday, 12,451 to date; one additional death, 206 deaths to date; 10,971 people recovered.
The largest number of cases in Fresno County are in Fresno ZIP codes, which had a total of more than 10,300 cases as of Friday. The Selma area south of Fresno has almost 1,100 cases, while Clovis has about 1,040 cases, according to data from the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
In Tulare County, the largest number of cases is in the Visalia area, where 3,440 infections have been reported by the Tulare County Department of Health & Human Services. Almost 2,000 cases have been reported in Porterviille, and 1,838 cases were identified to date in Tulare.
Hanford has the highest number of non-prison cases in Kings County, with 1,441 infections confirmed as of Sunday by the Kings County Department of Public Health.
More than 2,580 cases have turned up in community of Merced ZIP code area, according to Merced County health officials, who also identified nearly 1,100 cases in the community of Atwater.
In Madera County, ZIP code areas including Madera and rural areas outside the city have amassed almost 2,340 confirmed infections, according to the county’s health department.
Deaths from COVID-19
Across the central San Joaquin Valley, the novel coronavirus has claimed 617 lives since March.
Tulare County has lost the greatest number of residents to date, with a death toll of 206. But an accelerating pace of fatalities each month in Fresno County since the pandemic arose in March puts the county just three behind Tulare at 203 deaths.
August is likely to become the deadliest month yet of the pandemic in the Valley. Fresno County’s latest update of fatalities on Friday indicated that 65 people have succumbed to the virus this month – equal to the number that died in all of July.
Across Fresno and its neighboring Valley counties, the deaths of 165 people are blamed on COVID-19 in August. The disease claimed 206 lives in all of July in the six-county region.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 5:23 PM.
