More COVID variants appear in Fresno County, as concerns rise over spring break gatherings
Four cases of the West Coast strain of COVID-19 have been identified in Fresno County — another indicator that variants of the coronavirus are circulating in the community.
As a result, local public health officials are warning residents to keep social distancing and take precautions — particularly as spring break approaches for many younger people. They also worry that the pandemic will only be extended if members of the public fail to heed those warnings.
Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, reported Friday his office was informed by state health officials earlier this week that four people “tested positive for the West Coast strain, also known as the California variant.”
“This should not surprise anyone,” he added. noting that a growing number of cases of this and other variants are being reported in places throughout the state.
The revelation comes a week after three Fresno County residents were confirmed as having a different strain, the so-called “U.K. variant” B.1.1.7 that was first identified last fall in the United Kingdom.
“All of these are variants of concern because they’re more contagious and possibly more virulent, meaning they have a higher chance of landing somebody in the hospital with complications,” Vohra said.
“If people aren’t careful over spring break and through all of their activities, then these variants are going to play a large part in the last chapter of this pandemic and will probably prolong all of the crisis that we’re dealing with.”
The seven cases are likely a vast underestimation of the actual prevalence of coronavirus variants within Fresno County, he said.
“We know there’s many more cases than we’re able to detect right now just because the state has been rather slow in providing the information about different strains.”
The patient samples sent to state labs were collected about two weeks ago, but a backlog of thousands of samples submitted for genomic analysis is slowing the ability of state scientists to return results more quickly, Vohra said.
As of Thursday, the state Department of Public Health reported that there have been 474 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 U.K. variant throughout California, and 8,800 cases involving the West Coast strain – actually two closely-related variants, B.1.427 and B.1.429.
“These variants are here in Fresno, make no mistake about it,” Vohra said. “If you have COVID, you may likely have a variant of COVID that’s more contagious and more dangerous than the ‘old’ COVID.”
“People need to take it very seriously whenever they are told to isolate and stay at home because they have COVID,” he added. “They absolutely need to do that or else they’re going to be able to spread these variants to other relatives and colleagues.”
Coronavirus case updates
Counties across the central San Joaquin Valley collectively reported 270 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as well as nine deaths.
Fresno County: 165 new cases, 98,602 to date; two additional deaths, 1,592 to date.
Kings County: 17 new cases, 22,578 to date; two additional deaths, 241 to date. More than 7,200 cases, and 17 deaths, have been among inmates at state prisons in Corcoran and Avenal.
Madera County: 12 new cases, 15,862 to date; no additional deaths, 231 to date. Nearly 2,500 of the county’s cases have been among inmates at state prisons near Chowchilla.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 408 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 47 new cases, 30,419 to date; two additional deaths, 434 to date.
Tulare County: 29 new cases, 48,960 to date; three additional deaths, 805 to date.
Since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in March 2020, almost 217,000 residents in the six-county region have contracted the virus. Of those, more than 3,300 lost their lives to the disease.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 3:07 PM.
