August among worst months for COVID transmission in the Fresno region as surge continues
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Visalia and Tulare County registered their largest single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases in more than seven months on Tuesday, reporting more than 600 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus infections on the last day of August.
The 628 cases acknowledged Tuesday by the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency is that county’s largest number of cases in a day since January.
On Jan. 31, Tulare County reported 725 new cases, and 815 were reported on Jan. 24. Both of those January dates, however, represented a three-day accumulation after two days of no case updates.
Together with new cases reported in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties, Tulare County’s update pushed the central San Joaquin Valley region to its highest one-day total of new cases since Feb. 1.
Those Valley counties combined for 1,533 cases on Tuesday. The Feb. 1 total in the region was 1,787.
In both Fresno County and Valleywide, August now holds the distinction of having the third-largest monthly totals for new cases since the first local cases in the global pandemic were confirmed in March 2020, almost 18 months ago.
Fresno County’s August total of new cases is 11,228 — behind 26,832 cases in December 2020 and 23,096 in January 2021. Both of those months happened at the peak of a vicious winter spike that also sent hospitalzations and deaths soaring.
Valleywide, more than 23,500 cases were reported in August – like Fresno County, third behind case totals for the region of more than 55,600 in December and almost 49,600 in January.
By county, Tuesday’s updates included:
- Fresno County: 365 new cases, 115,867 to date since March 2020; no additional deaths, 1,790 to date.
- Kings County: 169 new cases, 26,483 to date; one additional death, 265 to date.
- Madera County: 181 new cases, 18,670 to date; no additional deaths, 250 to date.
- Mariposa County: 13 new cases, 816 to date; no additional deaths, 10 to date.
- Merced County: 177 new cases, 36,917 to date; one additional death, 509 to date.
- Tulare County: 628 new cases, 55,151 to date; no additional deaths, 869 to date.
Across the six-county region, the number of Valley residents who have contracted COVID-19 since March 2020 totals 253,904 — including 3,693 whose deaths have been attributed to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes.
The summer surge that began in July and has continued through August coincides with a dramatic increase in the prevalence of the highly contagious delta variant, a strain that was first identified in India last fall. Since that time, it has quickly traveled around the world and become the dominant variant in California and the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nationwide, the delta variant was responsible for more than 99% of all new coronavirus cases reported over the two-week period ending Aug. 21.
More than 98% of the positive COVID-19 tests processed in August in California and submitted for genomic sequencing were associated with the delta variant, according to the state Department of Public Health.
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "August among worst months for COVID transmission in the Fresno region as surge continues."
