The Fresno County Department of Public Health reported 40 additional cases of COVID-19 on Monday afternoon, April 27, as debates among city leaders to reopen the local economy ramp up.
The new cases bring Fresno County’s total to 498, with 262 cases in Fresno, 38 in Clovis and 36 in Sanger. Selma, Parlier and Mendota had 20 or more cases each.
According to the FCDPH, 206 of the cases were community spread or originated from an unknown source, 44 were travel related, 184 were spread by close contact and 64 are still under investigation.
At a press conference held Tuesday, April 28, at Fresno City Hall, Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld called the shelter-in-place order “authoritarian,” and called for the immediate opening of all nonessential businesses.
“The models have been wrong,” Bredefeld said. “Initially we were going to have 1 to 2.4 million Americans die. Then they downed it to a million, now we are down to 60,000.”
Seven people have died from COVID-19 in Fresno County, as reported by the FCDPH.
According to John Hopkins University, 56,259 people have died from the disease in the United States, including 1,755 in California, as of April 27. The number of confirmed cases has surpassed 1 million nationwide.
“We need to open all non-essential businesses now, and they need to follow the same CDC guidelines, the same social distancing that we are allowing with ‘essential businesses,” Bredefeld said.
Bredefled’s demands contradict advice given by national and local health experts, who say there should be a soft reopening.
At an April 27 media briefing, interim health officer Dr. Rais Vohra said he anticipates the economy to reopen sector by sector.
“We don’t have very much control over the “when” but I think we do have a lot to do and a lot of control over the ‘how,’” Vohra said about the reopening of the economy. “I hope that all of us keep engaging in this conversation about how we can make the reopening as smooth and graceful as possible…. I think that’s going to be a different answer for every sector.”
Vohra said earlier this month that Fresno should be testing about 1,500 people per day, which is about six to ten times more tests than the county currently conducts each day.
The state is giving the county a new testing site in an effort to help the county reach that goal. Vohra said the new site will test between 96 and 132 people per day. First responders and vulnerable populations will be given testing priority.
Vohra said the location of the site will be announced later this week.
A total of 6,632 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Fresno County. Out of the total, 171 have recovered from the disease, accounting for almost 35 percent, and 91 people have been hospitalized. There are 320 confirmed active cases.
Fresno’s shelter-in-place order is set to expire May 6.
Clovis continues to follow Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shelter-in-place-order until further notice.
Clovis City Community and Economic Director Andy Haussler said at an April 20 city council meeting that Clovis is receiving $440,000 from the CARES Act. Clovis City Public Information Officer Chad McCollum said the funds would be used to assist residents and small businesses struggling through the crisis, but he did not specify how those funds would be used to do so.