Fresno County’s April COVID deaths lowest of 2021, but still higher than year ago
Deaths from COVID-19 in Fresno County hit their lowest point so far in 2021 last month — though the numbers are still far higher than the pandemic’s initial months a year ago.
A total of 74 people died from the virus in April this year in Fresno County, and 126 people died in the six-county central San Joaquin Valley region.
While the decrease in deaths is good news as vaccinations continue throughout the Valley, the numbers remain worse than the early months of the pandemic a year ago.
After the outbreak of the pandemic, the county experienced its first COVID deaths in April last year, with seven fatalities reported.
The number of deaths increased incrementally each month, though Fresno County’s COVID fatalities did not surpass 70 per month until August. That month the county reported a staggering 152 deaths.
By the end of 2020, the respiratory disease claimed more than 1,900 lives across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties.
That ranked the novel coronavirus as the third leading cause of death for the entire year in the Valley, behind only heart disease and cancer, according to data from the state’s Center for Health Statistics and Information. COVID-19 took more lives than other significant killers such as Alzheimer’s disease, accidental deaths, strokes, chronic lung diseases such as emphysema, diabetes and high blood pressure.
By late 2020, in fact, Fresno County was forced to bring in refrigerated trailers to serve as temporary morgue space for the county coroner because of the number of deaths from COVID-19 in addition to other causes.
The fatalities, however, did not stop when the calendar changed to 2021. At least 760 more Valley residents died from coronavirus disease in January 2021, the most recent month for which information is available from CHSI – more than any other single cause of death that month, and more than heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, accidents and strokes combined.
Data shows that January was the single deadliest month of the pandemic to date, both in Fresno County and the Valley.
The largest number of deaths have been among Fresno County residents.
From the first fatality officially blamed on COVID-19 on a county death certificate more than a year ago, the state Department of Public Health indicates that 1,668 people died from the disease from April last year through Friday in Fresno County. That includes more than 700 since the start of this year.
And, as across the Valley, the novel coronavirus was third only to heart disease and cancer as a cause of death in Fresno County for the whole of 2020, as well as in January.
After a peak in January and continuing into February, the pace of deaths since has declined sharply in the past two months.
Still, the fatalities mount. As of Monday, 1,678 deaths have been reported from COVID-19 in Fresno County, and Valleywide the cumulative total to date stands at 3,462.
Hispanic or Latino residents have been hit hardest by the pandemic, both in Fresno County and across the Valley. Through January 2021, the Latino population sustained more than half of the COVID-19 fatalities in Fresno and Merced counties, and almost two-thirds of the deaths in Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.
- In Fresno County, Hispanic residents represent 54% of all coronavirus deaths, compared to 30.6% for whites, 9.9% among Asians, and 4% of Black residents. The remaining 1.5% were reported among multi-race, Native American, Pacific Islander or other races or ethnicities.
- Kings County: 63.4% Hispanic, 27.3% white, 9.9% among all others.
- Madera County: 64.5% Hispanic, 29.9% white, 5.6% among all others.
- Merced County: 55.4% Hispanic, 31.5% white, 5.8% Asian, 3.8% Black, 3.5% among all others.
- Tulare County: 62.5% Hispanic, 31.5% white, 2.5% Asian, 3.5% among all others.
Several Valley counties are also feeling the fatal effects of COVID-19 at a higher rate, as a proportion of the population, than California as a whole.
Statewide, there have been just under 61,000 coronavirus deaths – a rate of just over 15 per 10,000 residents. In Tulare County, however, the 834 lives lost to date amount to a rate of 17.2 deaths per 10,000 residents.
In other Valley counties, mortality rates from COVID-19 are:
- Fresno County, 1,678 deaths, or 16.3 per 10,000 residents.
- Merced County: 454 deaths, or 15.8 per 10,000 residents.
- Kings County: 246 deaths, or 15.7 per 10,000 residents.
- Madera County: 240 deaths, or 15.0 per 10,000 residents.
- Mariposa County: Seven deaths, or 3.9 per 10,000 residents.
Monday case updates
Fresno County reported 194 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday, including 46 confirmed cases on Monday. State and county health officials also reported 11 additional deaths over the weekend, but none on Monday.
The latest update brings to 101,372 the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases In Fresno County to date. That includes 1,678 people who have died from the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
Elsewhere around the Valley, neighboring counties reports included:
Kings County: 29 new cases since Friday, including five on Monday, for 22,910 to date; no additional deaths, 246 to date.
Madera County: 20 new cases in the first update since Friday, 16,311 to date; no additional deaths, 240 to date. Madera County only updates fatalities on Tuesdays.
Mariposa County: Three new cases since Friday, 444 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 63 new cases since Friday, including 24 reported on Monday, 36,657 to date; no additional deaths, 454 to date.
Tulare County: A reduction of six cases, based on a correction of previously reported data, 49,471 to date; three additional deaths, 837 to date.
Since the first confirmed coronavirus infections in the region in early March 2020, 222,165 cases have been reported among Valley residents, including 3,462 who have died.
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 2:09 PM.
