Coronavirus update, Oct. 2: County reports its highest number of cases in several days
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
Stanislaus County had its highest number of new cases in nearly two weeks Thursday, and three more deaths to the pandemic.
The death toll now stands at 365, the Health Services Agency reported.
The 61 new cases were the most since the 79 on Sept. 18. A total of 16,573 residents have tested positive. Another 88,610 tested negative, and 15,986 are presumed recovered.
Thursday’s positive rate of 9.93% more than doubled the 4.01% the day before. The rolling seven-day average was 4.47%. The 14-day average was 6.72%. The positive rate since data collection began in March was 15.8%.
The average positivity rate for September was 11.08%, down from 20.68% in August, 19.08% in July and 9 percent in June. Average daily tests were at 542, down from 908 in August, 917 in July and 558 in June.
There were 102 deaths in September, down from 148 in August. In July, the county reported 60 deaths.
The county remains in the lowest, or purple, tier in the state rating system that decides how much restaurants and other businesses can loosen its coronavirus restrictions.
The county’s five hospitals had 43 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, down from 45 on Wednesday. There were 17 available intensive-care beds for adults, up from eight the day before.
Of those who tested positive:
- 54% are female
- 46% male
- 7% are 14 years or younger
- 16% are ages 15 to 24
- 21% are 25 to 34,
- 18% are 35 to 44,
- 15% are 45 to 54
- 12% are 55 to 64
- 6% are 65 to 74
- 3% are 75 to 84,
- 2% are 85 or older.
- Though they make up 47 percent of the population, Latinos represented 64 percent of the positive cases.
Geographically:
- Modesto has 6,156 positive cases
- Turlock has 2,229
- Ceres has 2,076
- Riverbank has 834
- Patterson has 809
- Oakdale has 376
- Newman has 338
- Waterford has 255
- Hughson has 150
- Supervisorial District 5 has 1,048
- District 3 has 939
- District 2 has 736
- District 1 has 357
- District 4 has 115
In other nearby counties:
- San Joaquin County has 466 COVID-19-related deaths among 20,457 cases.
- Merced County has 145 deaths among 9,019 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 229 cases and four deaths.
- Mariposa County has 76 cases and two deaths.
As of Thursday evening, there were 822,775 confirmed cases in California and 15,992 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 7,279,065 U.S. cases and 207,816 deaths.
There has been some movement on the reopening of schools in previous weeks, with some having applied for waivers through the Stanislaus County Office of Education. Here also is the state list, which includes Stanislaus private schools seeking waiver approvals.
You can comment on MCS reopening plan
The Modesto City Schools district has released the draft of its plan to reopen in-person learning for transitional kindergarten through sixth grade. It is seeking feedback through an online survey and plans online community forums Thursday evening and Monday afternoon.
CBS News: Feds pushed to keep Foster Farms open
Staff at Merced County Public Health Department have said U.S. government officials tried to intimidate them into keeping Foster Farms’ Livingston plant open despite a serious outbreak of COVID-19 outbreak, according to a story posted Thursday by CBS News.
Drive-in movie aids Haven Women’s Center
Modesto’s State Theatre is back showing drive-in movies, including one screening that will be a fundraiser for Haven Women’s Center.
Drive-thru fair food returns to Turlock
Some of the summer’s Stanislaus County Fair food will make an October appearance the next two weekends. Drive-thru options only are available.
San Joaquin, Calaveras among counties easing rules
Numerous California counties comprising several million residents were cleared this week to proceed further in the economic reopening process, but state and local health officials continue to urge people to follow mask and social distancing protocols to prevent another surge in coronavirus activity, and also to get their flu shots.
Stanislaus is stuck in purple, barely
Stanislaus County was very close in a coronavirus update Tuesday to meeting the second criteria for moving to a less restrictive tier in the state’s plan for safely reopening the economy.
High school league realignment will wait
Like a presidential election cycle, every four years some high school coaches, fans, and players are happy and some are sad when the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section releases its realignment of schools to different leagues.
Graceada Park event joins the trend
Gala in Graceada was intended to be an annual event when it kicked off last year: a formal dinner in Modesto’s large downtown park. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gala, like so many similar efforts, is now an at-home event.
Back to school in Knights Ferry
The much-changed world we’re living in right now was clear as the one-school Knights Ferry Elementary on Tuesday became one of Stanislaus County’s first public districts to return to in-person transitional-kindergarten through sixth-grade learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Families struggle to get food
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the existing economic woes for low-income families and brought on unexpected financial hardships for the newly unemployed throughout the county. But school districts, nonprofit agencies and others are finding new ways to help.
Pandemic stalls litter pickup efforts
The state Department of Transportation conducted a major trash cleanup along the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County last week. But Caltrans is still facing criticism over mounting litter problems along Highway 99 and its offramps into Modesto after the pandemic reduced the number of volunteer efforts to clean those areas.
Love Modesto, delayed by COVID, seeks helpers
Love Modesto, the annual citywide volunteer day, typically takes place in the spring. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the effort, which now will take place Oct. 3 with adjustments to keep participants safe.
From around the state, nation and world
COVID-19 has spread among Central Valley farmworkers at an alarming rate and, on Thursday, the National Institutes of Health announced that it is awarding $3.7 million in grants to the University of California, Davis, to expand testing.
A review of over 38 million articles about the coronavirus published in English-language media reveals that President Donald Trump was likely the “largest” spreader of misinformation since January when the virus first emerged in Wuhan, China.
President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic was a hot topic during Tuesday’s debate, including Joe Biden’s claim that 1 in 1,000 Black Americans have died due to COVID-19 — and that it could be 1 in 500 if Trump doesn’t act quickly. The Democratic nominee appears to be at least partially right.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 4:26 AM.
