The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Fresno County increased to 351 on Monday, the county public health department announced.
As antibody testing has ramped up in other parts of the state – which has shown that the coronavirus outbreak is much larger than previously reported – Fresno County has not started yet.
Dr. Rais Vohra, the Interim Health officer for the public health department, said in a teleconference that the county has not conducted any antibody tests
“That’s something that we’re still waiting to start,” Vohra said. “We know that it’s coming.”
Vohra said he emailed the state’s testing task force – which is run by the California Department of Public Health – on Monday and asked for a status update about the antibody test.
Whenever the test comes to Fresno County, it will be a key factor in determining when people can return to work, Vohra said.
“We want to know who has the infection know, and we want to know who has passed that point and has some immunity to the infection,” Vohra said. “Because that’s really what’s really going to help us answer when people can safely come back to work, when we can safely open up, as it were, and allow people to really have the gatherings and other social interactions in a way that we’re not able to feel comfortable with right now.”
As for the regular tests, national experts recommend 152 tests per 100,000 people, which means that Fresno County should do around 1,500 tests per day. Vohra said the county is currently doing 150 to 250 per day.
The death toll remained at 7, and 32 individuals who tested positive are currently hospitalized, including 13 in the ICU. There are 35 other hospitalized individuals who are suspected COVID-19 patients, Vohra said.
There are more than 4,700 negative test results in the county.
Of the total positive cases, 41 are travel related, 113 are from person-to-person contact, 121 are from community spread and 76 are under investigation.
