Fresno passes 92,000 coronavirus infections as pandemic anniversary approaches
It’s been almost a year since an elderly Fresno County man who contracted the novel coronavirus on a cruise to Hawaii became the county’s first known case of COVID-19.
In the 49 weeks since testing confirmed the man’s infection, more than 92,000 other Fresno County residents have been infected with the virus, according to the latest data from the state Department of Public Health.
The state reported Friday that 292 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed through testing, up from 146 a day earlier. The new infections brings to 92,168 the number of people who have tested positive for the virus since March 6, whether they developed symptoms or not.
No additional deaths were reported Friday by Fresno County health officials, keeping the total at 1,291 fatalities to date.
The county has experienced an average of more than 290 new cases each day over the past seven days.
A little more than half of the cases confirmed by the Fresno County Department of Public Health have been reported since mid-December, when the first shipments of two vaccines intended to protect people against COVID-19 arrived in the county and were administered to health care workers.
Similarly, of nearly 1,300 deaths blamed on the coronavirus in Fresno County since the first fatality in April, almost 60% have been reported since the vaccines first became available here.
Also on Friday, Tulare County’s Health and Human Services Agency reported 106 new cases and seven additional deaths since Thursday. The county now has a cumulative 46,714 people who have been infected with the virus, and 691 deaths since March.
In Kings County, health officials reported 104 new cases since Thursday, but no additional deaths. The county’s total case count now stands at 21,533, with 205 fatalities. Of those totals, almost 7,200 cases and 17 deaths have been among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County health officials reported 43 new cases on Friday, pushing the county’s total infections since March to 14,966. The death toll in the county remained at 189 to date with no additional deaths reported Friday.
In Mariposa County, one new case was reported Friday, with no additional deaths, for cumulative totals to date of 386 confirmed infections and five deaths.
Merced County is not issuing an update Friday because of a county holiday for Presidents Day. Its next report will be on Tuesday, Feb. 16. On Thursday, the county reported 139 new cases and two additional deaths, pushing the totals to date to 27,701 confirmed infections and 375 fatalities.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 4:10 PM.
