Fresno County adds 463 new COVID-19 cases. Stay-at-home order extended
Fresno County tallied 463 new cases related to COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same day California health officials extended the stay-at-home or in the San Joaquin Valley.
Fresno County has reported a total of 64,274 cases, according to state numbers. The county did not update the number of deaths, which remains at 646.
There were 13 ICU beds available as of Tuesday, according to county health officials, five more beds than available the previous day.
There were 1,359 total new cases in the six-county region of Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties. There were three deaths reported Tuesday, a day after the region reported 29 catching up from the holiday weekend.
The regional COVID-19 stay-at-home order affecting the San Joaquin Valley has been extended while the demand in hospital intensive care units exceeds capacity, according to California’s top health official.
The official word on the extension came Tuesday from Dr. Mark Ghaly, state secretary of Health and Human Services. Ghaly said the order will remain in place until ICU bed availability in the San Joaquin Valley is at or above 15 percent.
State numbers show promise
In glimpses of better news, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news conference Monday the most recent statewide data do reflect a “moderate” plateau in COVID-19 hospital admissions. The numbers actually trended slightly downward outside of Southern California, he said.
California Department of Public Health data also shows the test positivity rate is growing at a much slower pace than it was earlier in December. The 14-day average, now 12.5%, has increased 0.7% over the past 10 days, after it had jumped 3.1% in the previous 10-day stretch.
But concern remains high that a post-Christmas surge will cancel out that progress, plunging California into a steeper surge and a deeper hospital crisis next month.
Hospitals are already heavily impacted.
Other Valley counties
Tulare County reported three new deaths for a total of 389 fatal cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began. The county’s 469 new cases brought that total to 32,578.
Merced County reported 223 new laboratory confirmed positive infections, pushing the county’s running total to 19,066 known cases since March. Total deaths remain at 248.
Kings County added 42 new cases but no new deaths on Tuesday, which totals 15,809 and 110, respectively.
Madera County reached 10,172 cases after adding 157 on Tuesday. No deaths were added to the 116 total.
Mariposa County reported three new cases for a total of 223. No deaths were added to the total of four.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
