Coronavirus update: Fresno County positivity rate falls below 8%; problems hit vaccine website
The positivity rate for the coronavirus in Fresno County — the percentage of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 — has seen a significant drop since the start of the year.
Last week, it dipped below 8%: the threshold needed to move out of the state’s most restrictive purple tier one. The percentage remains at 9% when averaged over the past 14 days.
The number was pushing 20% through most of January.
Positive rate is just one of the criteria used to determine when countries move into less restrictive tiers, and Fresno County continues to be well above the threshold for new daily cases. It is currently adding more than 22 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. That’s also down from January’s peak, when the county was seeing more than 70 new cases per 100,000 each day.
Fresno County has averaged 235 new cases each day of the last two weeks.
The California Department of Public Healh updated its numbers in Fresno County on Sunday, bringing the total to 94,234 cases since March. Of those, 1,367 have died due to causes related to the illness. The county is averaging 10 COVID related deaths per day.
Statewide, there has been 3,441,946 total cases and nearly 50,000 deaths.
Confusion with vaccine registration site MyTurn
As of Sunday, 7,320,679 vaccines had been administered across the state, including 156,521 in Fresno County.
This comes as California “glitch” in the state’s vaccine registration website MyTurn including Fresno, Madera, Merced, Kings and Kern counties. Health officials in Fresno County told the Associated Press they are still missing critical answers on how the system will operate.
In other parts of the Valley, a h reported 261 new COVID-19 cases in Fresno County incorrectly allowed anyone in the state to register for shots. The caused canceled appointments and confusion and caused Kings County to put its vaccines schedule “on hold” for the near future.
Case counts around the Valley
Merced County has reported 28,489 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The county’s death toll stands at 388.
Madera County had a total of 15,274 cases and 201 deaths, including a dozen deaths reported last week.
Mariposa County now has 392 confirmed cases and seven deaths. The county reported two deaths last week.
Tulare County has reported 47,339 total positive cases and 720 related deaths.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Coronavirus update: Fresno County positivity rate falls below 8%; problems hit vaccine website."