‘Alarming’ COVID-19 spike in Tulare County. Sheriff, hospital leaders say: wear a mask
Tulare County leaders on Friday shared concerning statistics showing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases over the past month along with dwindling hospital capacity and staffing to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The central San Joaquin Valley county has seen a 105% increase in COVID-19 cases in a little under three weeks, said Timothy Lutz, director of the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency. Additionally, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county increased by 129% since June 1, and 60% over the past two weeks.
“This is an alarming trend that, if allowed to continue, may result in additional businesses and entertainment sectors needing to be closed, as well as impacting the ability of our schools to return their students to the classrooms,” Lutz said during a news conference.
The largest recent percentage increase has been among people age 40 and younger, he said, with the highest growth rate among those age 17 and younger.
“No group is immune to this illness,” Lutz said.
Lutz also announced a local health order that mirrors the governor’s statewide order earlier this week, calling for some indoor business closures for counties on the state’s monitoring list, including Tulare County and a number of others in the Valley where there is increased spread of the contagious virus.
Amy Shuklian, vice chair of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, said a return to older stay-at-home orders could be a possibility if coronavirus rates continue to sharply rise.
Three more COVID-19 deaths (136 total) and 106 more cases (4,627 in all) were announced in Tulare County on Friday. Of the total, 1,581 tested positive in the past 14 days.
Lutz said there’s no significant outbreak or cluster accounting for the recent steep increase in cases. In response to questions, he said protests don’t seem to have played a large role in the increases, and neither have outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities.
The state lists nursing home outbreaks among the reasons for putting Tulare County on its watch list. Lutz said outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities were a larger driver of case numbers initially, but now account for less than 15% of the county’s COVID-19 cases.
Sheriff, officials address enforcement and masks
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said while he has told community members that his office won’t enforce mask mandates, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t agree with health officials’ recommendations to wear them.
“Let’s wear our masks,” Boudreaux said, “let’s do our part.”
He said those who don’t believe masks help should rely on guidance from health officials, who are experts on the matter and understand the science best that shows masks help reduce the spread of coronavirus.
Boudreaux also said he had a family friend die from COVID-19 two days prior.
He said his office is primarily taking an educational approach, handing out information and free masks instead of issuing citations.
However, Boudreaux said his office will assist other agencies with enforcement calls related to COVID-19 violations, such as, for example, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control citing a bar for “flagrant disregard” of the rules.
To help reduce the spread of coronavirus, officials said: Wear masks, stay at least six feet or more away from others, don’t gather with people outside your household, practice good hygiene, and stay home as much as possible – especially when ill.
Hospital beds filling with coronavirus patients
The chief executive officers of Kaweah Delta Health Care District in Visalia and Sierra View Medical Center in Porterville talked about hospital capacity and staffing concerns with more COVID-19 patients being admitted.
Gary Herbst said Kaweah Delta suddenly had a major resurgence in COVID-19 patients in June.
Among bleak statistics he shared: The Visalia hospital’s occupancy rate is now at 90% of its available 400 beds in the acute medical center, with just 14 beds left for those with respiratory illnesses like COVID-19. He said Kaweah Delta has had between 55 and 60 hospitalized coronavirus patients over the past week – almost three times more than in May. Eighteen are currently in critical care and seven are on ventilators.
Of those now hospitalized, about half are older than 60, and the other half younger – in their 50s, 40s and even 30s, Herbst said. That’s different from early on in the pandemic, when he said most hospitalized for COVID-19 were elderly patients with other health issues.
Herbst said Kaweah Delta’s workforce has been “decimated” over the past month, with those still on shift exhausted from the extra work. More than 150 Kaweah Delta employees have contracted COVID-19 in all, Herbst said, with 50 nurses now quarantined at home. Other frontline health care workers are out on leaves of absence because they fear infecting their immunocompromised children or parents.
Herbst said Kaweah Delta is “desperately” asking the community to do its part to help reduce the spread of the virus. He said he believes March and April weren’t as bad in the Valley for coronavirus because people were doing a better job at that time with wearing masks, socially distancing, and staying home more often.
Lutz said the Porterville Developmental Center has been readied as an alternative care site and surge location for Tulare, Fresno, Kings and Kern counties. He said it was running on Thursday but was still waiting for more personal protective equipment and food vendors. It will initially open with 50 beds available, with the ability to grow to 150 beds if needed. A couple of other locations have also been looked at as possible surge locations.
Herbst said the surge location in Fresno County was previously closed because it wasn’t being used – although now Fresno County is also experiencing a large recent increase in coronavirus cases like Tulare County.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 2:38 PM with the headline "‘Alarming’ COVID-19 spike in Tulare County. Sheriff, hospital leaders say: wear a mask."
