Fresno County reported 30 additional cases of COVID-19 Thursday, April 16, one the greatest spikes since the crisis began.
That brings the county’s new total to 295, with 159 of those cases in Fresno and 31 in Clovis.
Out of the total, 104 cases were community spread, 93 were spread by close contact, 38 were travel related and 60 are still under investigation.
According to new data released by the Fresno County Department of Public Health, 230 of the total cases are still active.Seventy-five people who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered.
No new deaths were reported.
Fresno County administrative officer Jean Rousseau gave the update via zoom conference Thursday afternoon.
Rousseau said the county expects to receive about $81 million in federal government funding from the CARES Act. He said the funds will be solely used for the county’s coronavirus response, such as more lab tests, protective equipment and computer equipment for employees working remotely. About one-third of county employees are working from home.
Rousseau said Fresno County is still a few weeks away from peaking, and expressed frustration over the county’s limited access to testing.
“I think my No. 1 frustration with this epidemic is the limited amount of testing that jurisdictions can do, and should do,” he said. “The more testing we can do, the more contact tracing we can do, the sooner we can get people back to work.”
In an effort to increase testing, the County recently partnered with Fresno State to open a state-of-the-art lab to conduct COVID-19 analysis. FCDPH officials are also working to secure more testing equipment from the California Department of Public Health.
Rousseau cast doubt that Fresno County would reopen its economy May 7, the date the shelter-in-place order is officially set to expire.
“The reopening of the economy is going to be slow but gradual, hopefully we have the testing and contact tracing down to where we can do it correctly,” Rousseau said.
Health officials continue to urge the public to practice good hygiene and social distancing.
“We don’t want people to get complacent at this time,” he said. “If we’re going to shut the economy down for as long as we have, let’s do it right.”