Valley Children’s Hospital reported Friday a teenager passed away from COVID-19, marking the first coronavirus-related death in the state for an individual under the age of 18.
As of numbers updated by the state on Thursday, there had been 44,793 children who tested positive for coronavirus with no reported fatalities.
The California Department of Public Health announced that the teenager had underlying health conditions.
“The death of this patient reaffirms that children – and no age group – are not immune from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the hospital in a statement. “It is imperative, now more than ever, for us to all work together to prevent further spread of this disease.”
Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra shared his condolences during the county health briefing on Friday.
“It’s a huge trauma for everyone that’s involved, including the hospital workers who are still coping on this case,” Vohra said. “I’m speechless when it comes to anything I could say to the family. It’s a heartbreaking case. It just brings home the reality that this is not sparing even the youngest members of our community.”
For cases processed from Tuesday through Friday, the county reported a 23% positivity rate. There were 1,103 positive coronavirus cases out of 4,809 tests processed.
Fresno County has a total positivity rate of 11.4% throughout the pandemic.
The county also reported 18 deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 138.
Fresno County has 9,449 active cases, and 4,852 individuals have fully recovered.
