Hundreds more COVID-19 cases arise in Fresno, nearby counties — but still below peak
Fresno County continues to post an average of more than 100 new coronavirus cases a day, with 125 new COVID-19 infections reported Tuesday in the county by the California Department of Public Health.
Since the first local cases of the global coronavirus pandemic were confirmed in early March, almost 31,740 people in Fresno County have at some point tested positive for the virus. Four additional deaths reported Tuesday brings the county’s total fatalities from COVID-19 to 447.
The average of 110 new cases per day over the past week is well below the peak average of almost 500 in mid-August, but still represents enough cases to keep Fresno County walking a tightrope between the purple and red tiers of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The blueprint includes four color-coded levels of risk for community spread of COVID-19 and governs the degree to which restaurants, churches, gyms and other business sectors can operate indoors.
Fresno County has been in red Tier 2, representing “substantial” risk of viral spread, since Sept. 29, which allows restaurants to offer indoor dining at up to 25% capacity, churches to hold indoor worship services at up to 25% capacity, and gyms to operate at 10% capacity indoors.
But new cases have occasionally trickled above a threshold of 7.0 per day per 100,000 residents, threatening to send Fresno County back into the more restrictive purple Tier 1, representing “widespread” risk of transmission.
The state’s latest reassessment for each of California’s 58 counties, ordinarily announced on Tuesday, was pushed back to Wednesday this week because of Election Day.
Around the Valley
Tuesday’s COVID-19 updates from Valley counties include:
Fresno County: 125 new cases Tuesday, 31,738 to date; four additional deaths, 447 to date.
Kings County: 123 new cases Tuesday, 8,673 to date; no additional deaths, 84 to date. Kings County’s totals include 3,933 cases among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 17 new cases Tuesday, 5,185 to date; no additional deaths, 76 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases Tuesday, 81 to date; no additional deaths, two to date.
Merced County: 40 new cases Tuesday, 9,819 to date; two additional deaths, 160 to date.
Tulare County: 106 new cases Tuesday, 18,053 to date; no additional deaths, 295 to date.
Across the six-county Valley region, almost 74,000 people have contracted the virus, and 1,064 deaths have been blamed on COVID-19 by the counties’ health officials.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 3:40 PM.
