Wave of new COVID-19 cases keeps Fresno, Valley on California’s most restrictive tier
Fresno County remains in the most restrictive level of California’s business-reopening program, according to the state’s latest coronavirus assessment Tuesday.
The California Department of Public Health kept Fresno County assigned to purple Tier 1 of the color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The designation means that restaurants, churches and some other sectors of the community remain limited to outdoor-only activities. Meanwhile, retailers confront limitations on how many customers they can allow inside during what’s traditionally the busiest shopping season of the year.
The purple tier represents “widespread” risk of spreading COVID-19 in the community.
Forty-five of California’s 58 counties now reside in that tier. Eight other counties are in red Tier 2, denoting “substantial” risk of viral transmission. Five counties are in orange Tier 3, where risk of spread is considered “moderate.”
Mariposa County, which last week was one of only two counties in yellow Tier 1, the least restrictive tier for business openings, slid this week into orange Tier 3.
Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties all remained in the purple tier along with Fresno County in Tuesday’s tier assignments.
In Fresno County, the average number of new coronavirus cases that surfaced each day climbed to 17.2 per 100,000 residents in the week ending Nov. 18. That’s up from 14.6 cases per 100,000 people a week earlier. That’s well above the threshold of seven new cases needed to restore Fresno County into red Tier 2, where it was for several weeks before being demoted last week.
Around the Valley
The tier assignments announced Tuesday represent cases for a seven-day period ending Nov. 18. But since that point, the number of new infections in Fresno County and other Valley counties has continued to spike at rates not seen for several months.
The state Department of Public Health reported Tuesday another 373 new cases in Fresno County since the previous day’s update. That represents a total of almost 2,100 new cases over the past seven days, or an average of almost 300 cases per day.
Six additional deaths were also reported Tuesday by Fresno County health officials since their last update on Friday.
Since the first case of COVID-19 in Fresno County was confirmed in early March, almost 36,700 people have at some point tested positive for the virus, whether they exhibited symptoms or not. Of those, 477 lost their lives to the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
In central San Joaquin Valley counties, Tuesday updates included:
Fresno County: 373 new cases, 36,688 to date; six additional deaths, 477 to date.
Kings County: 100 new cases, 10,359 to date; no additional deaths, 87 to date. Kings County’s totals include more than 4,900 infections to date, and 10 deaths, among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 53 new cases, 5,938 to date; three additional deaths, 83 to date.
Mariposa County: Eight new cases, 120 to date; no additional deaths, two to date.
Merced County: 72 new cases, 11,460 to date; no additional deaths, 179 to date.
Tulare County: 470 new cases, 20,352 to date; one additional death, 305 to date.
Valleywide, the cumulative number of coronavirus infections since early March has grown to more than 84,300, including 1,133 deaths attributed to the virus.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
