10 more deaths in county; nine deaths at Sierra View

It was a dark day on Friday as Tulare County Health and Human Services announced 10 more deaths in the county due to COVID-19.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, Sierra View Medical Center also reported it has hand another death due to COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths at Sierra View due to the coronavirus to nine.

On Thursday for the first time in a week, the department announced there were no new deaths due to the coronavirus. But that drastically changed when the department announced 10 deaths on Friday, bringing the total of deaths due to COVID-19 in Tulare County to 64.

The department reported an increase of 43 cases from Thursday to Friday. The department reported on Friday there were 1,338 COVID-19 cases, up from 1,295 on Thursday.

The department did report another significant increase of those in Tulare County who have recovered from COVID-19. The department reported there are now 376 people in Tulare County who tested positive for COVID-19 who have recovered.

The department’s official tally is 111 cases in Porterville and 105 cases in Lindsay. There have been 155 cases reported in Tulare and 261 in Dinuba.

There are 11 cases in Southwestern Tulare County, 11 cases in foothill and mountain communities, 11 cases in Strathmore, 58 cases in Farmersville, 11 cases in Goshen, 16 cases in Ivanhoe, 11 cases in Traver, 11 cases in the Reedley area, 12 cases in Woodlake, 11 cases in Orange Cove and 17 cases in Exeter. There are now more than 600 cases in Visalia.

Twenty-eight cases have been reported as travelers, 627 cases were due to person-toperson contact and 683 cases are still under investigation.

Seventy-nine cases are ages 0-17, 155 are ages 18-25, 286 are ages 2640, 465 are ages 41-64 and 349 are ages 65 and older.

There are 1,030 people in Tulare County who are under self-quarantine and being monitored by public health officials.

Sierra View also reported it had 24 confirmed cases. The hospital reported it had 10 COVID-19 inpatients.

The hospital reported it has had 548 tests done while there have been 3,341 tests conducted at the Tulare County testing lab.

Tulare County now has

2.8 cases per 1,000. As of Thursday, California had 1.9 cases per 1,000. As of Thursday, California had 74,914 cases and 3,039 deaths due to COVID-19. Standards for reopening Eight county health departments in the San Joaquin Valley were set to send a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom asking the state to relax standards when it comes to Stage 3 openings. Stage 3 openings would include restaurants offering dine-in service and such places as salons being able to open.

Tulare County has yet to join the other eight counties in signing onto the letter. “We are giving the letter careful consideration,” said Tulare County public information officer Carrie Monteiro in a released statement from the public health department.

Monteiro also stated any decision regarding the letter will be made “in the best interest of everyone involved.”

Tulare County is a long ways away from meeting the current guidelines for Stage 3 openings, especially with the report of 10 more deaths on Friday. The guidelines call for no deaths to happen in two weeks. Also over a twoweek period, there would have to be just three to four new cases a day in Tulare County for the county to meet Stage 3 guidelines.

Current guidelines allow for the following in Tulare County: Restaurant curbside pickup and carry out; and curbside pickup for the following retail business:

Bookstores, jewelry stores, toy stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, home furnishing stores, sporting goods stores, antique stores, music stores and florists.

Still in effect are no dining-in at restaurants and no onsite eating areas; no indoor shopping at nonessential retail stores; no group sports or activities; and no special events as all county permits have been revoked or suspended.

NURSING HOMES

As of Wednesday, the California Department of Public Health reported there were no COVID-19 cases at Porterville Convalescent Home, Porterville’s Gateway Post Acute and Porterville’s Sequoia Transitional Care.

There have been outbreaks in Tulare County at Porterville’s Sierra Valley Rehab, Visalia’s Redwood Springs, Visalia’s Linwood Meadows, Lindsay Gardens and Dinuba Healthcare.

To view the status of COVID-19 at the state’s nursing homes visit https://www.cdph.ca.gov/ PROGRAMS/CID/DCDC/ PAGES/COVID-19/SNFSCOVID_19.ASPX