Strike teams being sent to Central Valley
Strike teams being sent to Central Valley
There was an increase of 242 COVID-19 cases reported in the county over the weekend by Tulare County Health and Human Services.
There have now been 8,534 cases in Tulare County. There were 8,210 cases reported on Friday. Over the three day period, that’s an increase more than 100 per day. But it should be noted not all cases over the weekend are processed until Tuesday.
And Tulare County’s R number which projects how fast the rate of the virus will increase has increased significantly and is now up to 1.24. That means Tulare County is expected to have a rate that’s “likely increasing,” meaning the increase in cases is expected to be even higher than it is now. The number 1.24 represents the average number of people one infected person is expected to infect.
The department also reported four more deaths over the weekend, bringing the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Tulare County to 172. The state model now projects Tulare County to have 309 deaths by August 26.
And the number of recoveries reported was still only a little more than a third of new cases reported. There are now 4,693 people in Tulare County who have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19, an increase of 85 over the 4,608 that was reported on Friday.
The number of active cases increased considerably from 3,434 to 3,669.
The number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Tulare County also remains a concern. As of Friday, Visalia’s Kaweah Delta Hospital reported it had 83 COVID-19 hospitalizations. The hospital reported it 81 employees who have now tested positive for COVID-19 and 143 employees who have recovered.
Kaweah Delta reported it had 15 of 43 available ventilators in use. The hospital reported it has had 2,467 positive tests.
The hospital also broke down its COVID-19 patients by age. For Kaweah Delta’s complete breakdown visit https:// www.kaweahdelta.org/ COVID19.ASPX
As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, Sierra View Medical Center reported it has had 189 positive tests. Sierra View reported it had 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Sierra View has had 24 deaths due to COVID-19. Sierra View reported six of its 10 ICU beds were in use and six of 19 available ventilators were in use.
Sierra View reported it now has 14 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and 20 employees who have recovered.
The number of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes in Tulare County also increased substantially from 468 to 539.
There have now been 1,307 cases reported in the Porterville area. There have been 366 cases in Lindsay, 98 cases in Strathmore, 79 cases in Terra Bella, 1,233 cases in Tulare, 1,013 cases in Dinuba, 389 cases in Earlimart, 45 cases in Richgrove, 18 cases in foothill-mountain communities, 32 cases in Goshen, 45 cases in Traver, 91 cases in Woodlake, 11 cases in the Reedley area, 11 cases in Orange Cove, 35 cases in Tipton, 190 cases in Pixley, 162 cases in Exeter, 90 cases in Ivanhoe and 227 cases in Farmersville.
In Visalia, there have been 1,075 cases in one region, 644 cases in another region and 715 cases in a third region.
There have been 68 cases reported as travelrelated, 2,783 cases due to person-to-person contact and 5,683 cases are under investigation.
There have been 1,053 cases ages 0-17, 1,334 cases ages 18-25, 2,409 cases ages 26-40, 2,681 cases ages 41-64 and 1,045 cases ages 65 and older.
There have been 4,348 cases who are Hispanic, 873 who have been caucasian, 112 who have been Asian, 38 who have been African American, 11 who have been Native American, 105 have been multi-race and 3,047 are unknown.
There are 295 people in Tulare County under self-quarantine who are being monitored by public health officials.
With a population of about 470,000 people there have been 1.76 cases per 100 residents or 1.76 percent.
The doubling time — the amount of days it would take for cases to double which measures how flat the curve of cases is — has remained about the same at 25.6 days.
STRIKE TEAMS
In his press conference on Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said he’s sending three coronavirus strike teams and $52 million in federal funds to the Central Valley to help the area battle COVID-19.
Newsom recently announced strike teams from various agencies to better enforce state mandates when it comes to battling COVID-19. On Monday he announced like he did in Imperial County, he was sending three “strike teams” from Health and Human Services, OSHA along with state emergency services personnel to the Central Valley, including Tulare County.
Newsom said the funding would be used to help bolster testing in the Valley, including Tulare County, and to pay for more supplies and addition support for the region’s medical system.