Tulare County Points to Easter Socializing as a Reason for 101 New COVID Cases

The Tulare County Health Department reported the largest daily increase in COVID-19 cases Tuesday since the start of the outbreak.

Tulare County’s confirmed cases rose by 101 since Monday, bringing the total to 858.

Public Information officer Tammie Weyker-Adkins told GV Wire by email, “We’re seeing the result of what occurred 2-14 days ago.”

That delayed time frame points to Easter weekend.

“Mostly, we are seeing family-to-family contact transmission as people socialize,” said Weyker-Adkins. She also said her office is seeing batches of new positive cases from commercial labs, new skilled nursing facility cases, and employees from Ruiz foods.

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The Visalia Times-Delta reported that dozens of new cases are attributable to outbreaks at five skilled nursing facilities across the county, including two new clusters of 22 cases at Dinuba Healthcare and 20 cases at Porterville’s Sierra Valley.

Tim Lutz, who is Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency director, said that Ruiz Foods represents another significant outbreak, with 107 cases between its Tulare and Dinuba production facilities. More than half of all the employees tested returned a positive diagnosis over the weekend.

Forty people have died from COVID-19 in the county.

(GV Wire/Alexis DeSha)

Fresno County

Just after 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Fresno County updated its numbers to show a total of 724 cases of COVID-19.

Nine people have died, while 253 have recovered. There are 462 active cases.

Madera County

Fifty-four cases of novel coronavirus are reported in Madera County. Thirty people have recovered. Two people have died of the virus.

According to health officials, 1,097 people have been tested, and 1,043 of the tests came back negative.

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Merced County

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, there were 147 confirmed cases — one more than Monday — of COVID-19 in Merced County. Of that number, 81 have recovered and three have died.

San Joaquin County

The San Joaquin County Health Department reports four new cases since Monday bringing the total to 578.

Ten more people have recovered for a total of 443.

Deaths remain at 26.

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Stanislaus County

There are 428 positive cases of COVID-19 in Stanislaus County, of which 267 people have recovered and 15 people have died.

Officials report that 6,234 people have tested negative.

Kern County

The Kern County Health Department reports 1,055 cases of COVID-19, with 620 recoveries and 11 deaths.