Number of active cases remains virtually the same County close to standard for schools that applied for waivers

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Tulare County remained virtually the same over the Labor Day weekend.

Tulare County Health and Human Services reported on Tuesday there are now 695 people in Tulare County who have COVID-19. In its last report on Friday, the department reported there were 694 active cases in Tulare County.

As far as Tulare County’s case rate per 100,000 over a 7-day period, it’s closing in on the number required for schools who have applied for waivers to open for in-person instruction for all of their pre-k-6 students.

On Tuesday, the department reported a case rate of 15 per 100,000 over a seven-day period, a considerable decline of 2.9 from its previous report. For schools who have applied for waivers to open that number needs to come down to 14.

The department reported a there have been a total of 14,816 cases in Tulare County as of

Tuesday. That number increased by 139 from the department’s previous report.

The number of recoveries also increased by 135 from the department’s previous report. There are 13,875 people in Tulare County who have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.

The department reported three more deaths over the Labor Day weekend, bringing the total of deaths due to COVID-19 in Tulare County to 246. The state model projects Tulare County to have 294 deaths by October 8.

Tulare County’s R number which projects how fast the virus will spread also remained about the same at .85, indicating the increase of the rate of spread is “likely decreasing” from its current rate. The number .85 represents the average number of people one infected person would infect.

Another sign the flattening of the curve of COVID-19 cases could be more permanent this time around is Tulare County’s doubling time

— the amount of days it would take for cases to double — has soared to 356.1 days.

The department reported the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Tulare County is 55. That number could be coming back down based on totals reported by Sierra View Medical Center and Visalia’s Kaweah Delta Hospital.

As of Tuesday, Sierra View reported it had 12 COVID-19 hospitalizations and five patients suspected of having COVID-19.

Sierra View has had 41 deaths due to COVID-19. As of Tuesday, Sierra View reported four of its 10 ICU beds were in use and four of its 19 ventilators were in use.

As of Tuesday, Sierra View reported it had six employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and 39 employees who have recovered. Sierra View has had a total of 308 positive cases.

As of Friday, Kaweah Delta reported it had 32 COVID-19 hospitalizations of which five were in ICU.

In the county’s lastest update, there have been 2,353 cases in the Porterville area, 150 cases in Terra Bella, 199 cases in Strathmore, 619 cases in Lindsay, 40 cases in foothill-mountain communities, 133 cases in Richgrove, 28 cases in Alpaugh, 271 cases in Pixley, 86 cases in Tipton, 610 cases in Earlimart, 2,293 cases in Tulare, 1,665 cases in Dinuba, 300 cases in Cutler, 260 cases in Woodlake, 550 cases in Orosi, 298 cases in Exeter, 431 cases in Farmersville, 40 cases in Goshen, 79 cases in Traver, 13 cases in the Reedley area and 11 cases in Orange Cove.

In Visalia there have been 1,863 cases in one region, 1,029 cases in another region and 1,201 cases in a third region.

There have been 68 cases reported as travelrelated, 4,843 cases due to person-to-person contact and 9,905 cases are under investigation.

There have been 2,031 cases ages 0-17, 2,347 cases ages 18-25, 4,284 cases ages 26-40, 4,611 cases ages 41-64 and 1,535 cases ages 65 and older.

There have been 8,310 cases who have been Hispanic, 1,401 have been Caucasian, 252 have been Asian, 57 have been African-american, 30 have been Native American, 281 have been multi-race and 4,485 are unknown.

There are 475 people in Tulare County who are under self-quarantine and being monitored by public health officials.

With a population of about 470,000 people, Tulare County has had an overall rate of about 3.15 cases per 100 residents or 3.15 percent.