City Manager Reports COVID-19 Cases Rising in Clovis

City Manager Luke Serpa has reported there has been a total of 4,972 COVID-19 cases in Clovis. (CR Photo)

City Manager Luke Serpa gave Clovis City Council an update on the COVID-19 impact on the city and county.

Serpa said state COVID-19 cases are trending down overall. But in Fresno County, the numbers seem to be steady with no evidence of a down trend.

Last week’s preliminary report of 25 deaths in a week for Clovis was incorrect according to Serpa. He said that since the county changed their database, the reports of 25 deaths was not from a single week rather it was from several different weeks.

Serpa reported a total of 4,972 cases of COVID-19 in Clovis since the pandemic began and that cases are continuing to rise.

Fresno County has seen a total of 932 COVID-19 deaths. In Clovis, there have been a total of 85 deaths.

Serpa also reported COVID-19 hospitalizations have gone down. However, according to the state, ICU bed availability in the Central Valley is still at 0 percent keeping the county in the current stay at home order.

The county is reporting 75.2 adjusted new cases per 100,000 population which is up from last week’s numbers. The positivity rate has increased to 18.3 percent. In addition, the health equity quartile positivity rate is at 19.5 percent.

Councilmember Ashbeck asked if in order for us to get out of the stay at home order do the adjusted new cases, health equity and positivity rate all have to go down.

Serpa mentioned that the state is only looking at the ICU bed availability. If the region could show a projected increase in ICU bed availability, the state would lift the stay at home order for the region.

Jorge Rodriguez has a passion for journalism and wants to bring the community information and great stories. After high school Jorge joined the U.S. Army and while in active duty he was deployed twice to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While in college he worked for the Fresno City College Rampage and the Fresno State Collegian newspapers. He graduated from Fresno State in 2019 with a degree in print journalism.