Coronavirus death toll rises to more than 500 in Fresno County, almost 1,200 in Valley
Testing has confirmed more than 350 new people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in Fresno County.
In addition, the respiratory disease caused by the virus is being blamed for 18 additional deaths in the county.
On Friday, the California Department of Public Health reported 356 new cases of COVID-19 in Fresno County, bringing to 39,680 the total number of people who have tested positive for the virus since the first local cases were identified in early March.
With the deaths reported by Fresno County health officials since their previous update on Tuesday, the number of lives lost to the virus among county residents grew to 506 over the past nine months.
An average of about 280 new cases have been reported each day over the past seven days in Fresno County; the 14-day average is more than 314 new cases each day.
Valleywide, Friday became the day with the highest number of reported COVID-19 deaths in more than three months. Across the six-county region, health officials acknowledged 27 fatalities from the virus – the most since Aug. 31, when 29 deaths were reported.
Over the last 14 days, an average of almost six deaths per day have been reported across the Valley. Since early March, the death toll attributed to COVID-19 stands at 1,198.
Around the Valley
Friday updates of coronavirus cases from counties in the central San Joaquin Valley include:
Fresno County: 356 new cases Friday, 39,680 to date; 18 additional deaths since Tuesday, 506 to date. Within the county, 1,040 cases are among inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison near Coalinga, including almost 620 confirmed within the past two weeks, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Kings County: 69 new cases, 11,750 to date; two additional deaths, 91 to date. Almost 5,660 of Kings County’s cases, and 11 deaths, are among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 55 new cases, 6,537 to date; no additional deaths, 90 to date. Almost 760 of Madera County’s cases are among inmates at Valley State Prison near Chowchilla. Another Chowchilla-area prison, the Central California Women’s Facility, has seen 18 cases.
Mariposa County: One new case, 149 to date; no additional deaths, three to date.
Merced County: 269 new cases, 12,891 to date; five additional deaths, 191 to date.
Tulare County: 298 new cases, 22,386 to date; two additional deaths, 317 to date.
Collectively on Friday, the six-county region had more than 1,000 new cases for the fourth time in the last five days. Valleywide, the number of people who have been infected with the coronavirus at some point since March has grown to almost 93,400.
