Huge increase in cases, recoveries Rite Aid latest to offer testing
While there was another huge increase in COVID-19 cases in Tulare County on Friday, there was also a huge increase in the number of recoveries.
Tulare County Health and Human Services reported on Friday there have now been 8,210 COVID-19 cases in the county. That’s an increase of 334 cases over the 7,876 that was reported on Thursday. Over the last three days, the department has reported nearly 1,000 new cases over the last three days.
Tulare County’s R number which projects the rate of the spread of the virus also increased considerably from 1 to 1.07. The county’s rate of spread is still considered stable, which means the virus is expected to spread at its current rate. The number 1.07 represents the average number of people one infected person will infect.
One encouraging development is the department for the third straight day didn’t report any new deaths, leaving the total number of deaths in Tulare County at 168.
The state model also decreased its projection for the number of deaths in Tulare County. It now projects 290 deaths by August 23. That’s down from its previous projection of 352.
Another encouraging number is the number of increased recoveries was huge and nearly reached the number of new cases. There was an increase of 276 recoveries reported on Friday.
There are now 4,608 people who have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19, which is up from the 4,332 reported on Thursday. The number of recoveries has increased by more than
450 over the past two days.
The number of active cases increased from 3,376 to 3,434. That increase of 58 is a smaller increase than what has been happening.
The number of hospitalizations, though, in Tulare County remains a concern. The department reports there are 93 COVID-19 hospitalizations, which is enough to affect the overall capacity of hospitals.
As of Thursday, Visalia’s Kaweah Delta Medical Center reported it had 81 COVID-19 hospitalizations. The hospital reported 12 out of a 47 ventilators were in use.
It also reported 81 employees have currently tested positive for COVID-19 and 143 employees have recovered from COVID-19. The hospital also reported a total of 2,428 positive tests.
As of 4:30 p.m. Friday Sierra View Medical Center reported 26 COVID-19 hospitalizations and three of 19 available ventilators in use. Sierra View also reported five of 10 ICU beds were in use. Sierra View has had 23 deaths due to COVID-19.
Sierra View reported it has had 189 positive tests. It reported it now has 14 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and 20 employees who have recovered.
The department reported there are now 468 confirmed nursing home cases.
The number of cases in the Porterville area continues to grow and has now reached 1,245. There have been 92 cases in Strathmore, 351 cases in Lindsay, 75 cases in Terra Bella, 182 cases in Pixley, 372 cases in Earlimart, 42 cases in Richgrove, 18 cases in foothill-mountain communities, 35 cases in Tipton, 157 cases in Exeter, 970 cases in Dinuba, 1,197 cases in Tulare, 32 cases in Goshen, 44 cases in Traver, 85 cases in Woodlake, 11 cases in the Reedley area, 11 cases in Orange Cove, 86 cases in Ivanho and 217 cases in Farmersville.
In Visalia there has been 1,040 cases in one region, 621 cases in another region and 694 cases in a third region.
There have been 68 cases reported as travelrelated, 2,592 cases due to person-to-person contact and 5,550 cases under investigation.
There have been 1,018 cases ages 0-17, 1,291 cases ages 18-25, 2,288 cases ages 26-40, 2,582 cases ages 41-64 and 1,023 cases ages 65 and older.
There are 381 people in Tulare County who are under self-quarantine and being monitored by publich health officials.
With a population of about 470,000 people, Tulare County has had 1.63 cases per 100 residents, or 1.63 percent.
The county’s doubling time – the amount of days it would take for cases to double which measures how flat the curve of cases is – remains about the same at 22.5 days.
RITE AID IN PORTEVILLE A TESTING SITE
Rite Aid on Morton recently became the latest place to provide COVID-19 testing in Porterville. According a press release from Rite Aid, Porterville’s Rite Aid offers testing similar to Rite Aid’s other drive-through locations.
The site utilizes selfswab nasal tests overseen by Rite Aid pharmacists. The site operates 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Rite Aid’s COVID-19 nasal tests are available for all adults, regardless if they’re experiencing virus symptoms, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance. At all testing locations, patients are required to provide identification, be at least 18 years old and need to pre-register online at www.riteaid.com in order to schedule a time slot for testing.
A complete list of Rite Aid’s COVID-19 testing sites can be found at www.riteaid.com. Rite Aid partners with Verily and its Baseline COVID-19 Testing Program to provide screening, scheduling and return of results to participants at Rite Aid testing sites. Bioreference Laboratories provides COVID-19 laboratory testing.
Clinical oversight for the COVID-19 testing program is provided by Pwnhealth, a national clinician network that enables safe and easy access to diagnostic testing.
Rite Aid will continue to provide regular updates on the company’s progress with COVID-19 testing.