Fresno, nearby counties push past 70K COVID-19 cases. What the region’s curve looks like
A day after Fresno County accumulated its 30,000th confirmed coronavirus infection, the central San Joaquin Valley on Tuesday passed 70,000 cases since the first local instances of COVID-19 were identified in early March.
Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties collectively reported almost 300 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, as well as five additional deaths. Those updates pushed the Valley to a cumulative total of 70,045 people who, at some point since March, have tested positive for the virus, regardless of whether they showed symptoms.
The deaths acknowledged on Tuesday bring to 1,020 the number of lives lost in six county region to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes.
While the region’s case count continues to grow, it’s rising at a slower pace than even a month ago, and dramatically less than a peak of more than 1,000 cases per day in early August. The result is a curve that, while not level, is much flatter now than the distinct upslope that was evident this summer.
The California Department of Public Health reported Tuesday that there were 101 new coronavirus infections in Fresno County, tipping the total number of cases to date to 30,152 in the county. Fresno County’s health department reported only one additional death since its last update on Friday, for a cumulative total of 430 fatalities attributed to COVID-19.
Over the past week, Fresno County has had an average of about 90 new COVID-19 cases each day.
Around the Valley
In neighboring Valley counties, Tuesday’s updates were:
Kings County: 39 new cases on Tuesday, 8,192 to date; no additional deaths, 83 to date. The county’s case total includes 3,671 infections among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 34 new cases Tuesday, 4,920 to date; no additional deaths, 73 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases Tuesday, 78 to date; no additional deaths, 2 to date.
Merced County: 11 new cases Tuesday, 9,386 to date; one additional death, 153 to date.
Tulare County: 111 new cases Tuesday, 17,317 to date; three additional deaths, 279 to date.
Since last Tuesday, the average number of coronavirus cases in the Valley region has been about 187 per day.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 5:55 PM.
