Every county in the San Joaquin Valley reported an increase in the number of cases, with some noting new fatalities, except for one.
Madera County.
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For the third straight day, the county held steady at 26 active cases.
Thus far, the county has reported one death and one recovery.
Statewide, California appears near its peak demand of healthcare resources, according to the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projection.
The projection current places California’s peak as Monday, April 13 – requiring 4,906 hospital beds, 791 intensive care beds, and 672 ventilators.
Despite the projection, California’s Office of Emergency Services is establishing triage centers across the state – including one in Fresno, Tulare, and Kern counties – to provide additional bed capacity.
Meanwhile, as testing ramps up in Madera’s next-door neighbor, Fresno, cases picked up by 10 on Wednesday. The county currently has 156 active cases, the Fresno County Department of Public Health announced.
Positive coronavirus cases in Fresno County rose by 10 Wednesday to 156, the department of public health announced.
Travel-related cases total 36 individuals, 34 cases are from person-to-person spread, 43 are from community spread and 43 are under investigation.
No more deaths were announced, as the number of fatalities remained at three. Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra said the third individual who passed away who had contracted the virus was an elderly woman.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, 29 individuals have been hospitalized with the virus in Fresno County, Vohra said.
A total of 10 individuals have fully recovered, although that number is an undercount Vohra said because the department is analyzing several cases that will be cleared in the following days.
Vohra said the county has monitored 984 individuals who may have been exposed to the virus and is currently monitoring 209 patients, meaning the other 775 people have been cleared.
“Masking is something that is a very important component to protecting not only those who are in the healthcare workforce, but really protecting everyone from the COVID infection,” Vohra said. “Really the best thing that you can do if you’re a member of the general public is to just keep that social distancing.”
Vohra recommended using cloth masks and also cleared up the reason behind wearing a mask.
“The mask doesn’t necessarily protect you from getting the virus, but it does protect everyone around you just in case you have the virus,” Vohra said.
With the Easter holiday coming up on Sunday, Vohra urged people to stay home in order to avoid spreading the virus.
The department also updated the numbers for how the virus is impacting each city in the county. Fresno leads the way with 102 cases, and Clovis is next at 17, followed by Firebaugh with 12, Sanger with 7 and Reedley with 6. All other cities in the county have four or fewer cases.
