County virus recoveries continue to rise
Tulare County Health and Human Services reported another significant increase on Thursday in those who have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.
The department reported 1,684 people in Tulare County have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19, an increase of 82 over the 1,602 that was reported on Wednesday.
The department did report two more deaths in the county on Thursday due to COVID-19. That brings the total of people who have died from COVID-19 in Tulare County to 98.
The department reported an increase of 43 COVID-19 cases on Thursday. There have been 2,475 COVID-19 cases in Tulare County, up from the 2,432 reported on Wednesday.
But there has been a significant decrease in the number of active cases in Tulare County over the last two days. On Tuesday, the department reported there were 790 active cases but that number came down to 693 on Thursday.
The number of hospitalizations in Tulare County due to COVID-19 also remained about the same at 38. Of those 36, five were in intensive care. The number of confirmed cases at nursing homes in the county also remained the same at 386.
The department reported a slight decrease in the number of those who are in self-quarantine and being monitored by public health officials, down to 989 on
Thursday from 994 on Wednesday.
The department reported there has been 234 cases in Southeastern Tulare County, which includes Porterville. The official tally for Lindsay was 140.
There were 362 cases in Tulare and 421 cases in Dinuba. There were 102 cases in Southwestern Tulare County, six cases in foothill/mountain communities, 15 cases in Strathmore, 82 cases in Farmersville, 28 cases in Exeter, 11 cases in Goshen, 23 cases in Ivanhoe, 13 cases in Traver, 22 cases in Woodlake, 11 cases in the Reedley area and 11 cases in Orange Cove. The rest of the cases have been in Visalia.
Thirty-four of the cases were reported as travel-related, 1,126 cases were due to person-toperson contact and 1,215 cases were under investigation.
There were 237 cases ages 0-17, 337 cases ages 18-25, 597 cases ages 2640, 815 cases ages 41-64 and 489 cases ages 65 and older.
As of 4:35 p.m. Thursday, Sierra View Medical Center reported it had 48 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including seven COVID-19 inpatients.
Sierra View has had 12 deaths due to COVID-19. As of Wednesday, Sierra View has had 1,419 tests conducted while there have been 5,849 tests conducted at the Tulare County testing lab as of Thursday.
With a population of about 470,000 people, there have now been more than 5.2 cases per 1,000 in Tulare County, or .52 percent. The doubling time in the county — the amount of days it would take for cases to double — has decreased to 31.1 days as of Wednesday. That still shows a relatively flat curve of cases in the county.
PDC UPDATE
Tulare County Health and Human Services Director Tim Lutz said he believed the idea of housing COVID-19 inmates from Avenal and Corcoran Prisons at Porterville Developmental Center was no longer being considered at Tuesday’s Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting. “I think that plan might have gone out the widow,” Lutz said at Tuesday’s meeting.
But it’s being reported again the PDC alternative care site is being considered to house inmates from Avenal and Corcoran.
Lutz suggested the COVID-19 inmates could remain at the prisons at Tuesday’s meeting. “We’re leaving nursing home resident in skilled nursing facilities, why aren’t we leaving inmates in the correctional facility and providing treatment there?” he said.
But many argue the conditions for COVID-19 inmates at the prisons are inhumane.
An alternative COVID-19 care site at PDC with six buildings that could house 41 beds for a total of 246 beds was constructed but there really has been no direction on how the facility would be used since its completion.
In addressing that at Tuesday’s meeting, Lutz said, “There’s still a lot of inconsistencies on the facility unfortunately.”