Coronavirus update, Oct. 3: Stanislaus deaths hit 368. Positive rate stays under 10%
Latest facts on COVID-19 testing in Modesto area
For the 10th straight day, Stanislaus County reported three deaths to the virus Friday. The total stands at 368 residents, according to the Health Services Agency.
The 55 new positive tests brought the total caseload to 16,628. Another 89,163 people tested negative, and 16,048 are presumed recovered.
Friday’s positive rate of 9.05% was down from the 9.93% on Thursday. The rolling seven-day average was 5.56%. The 14-day average was 6.38%. The positive rate since data collection began in March was 15.7%.
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 45 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, up from 43 on Thursday. The number often topped 200 in summer. There were 14 available intensive-care beds for adults, down from 17 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 6,174 positive cases
- Turlock has 2,231
- Ceres has 2,079
- Riverbank has 836
- Patterson has 812
- Oakdale has 379
- Newman has 338
- Waterford has 255
- Hughson has 151
- Supervisorial District 5 has 1,051
- District 3 has 941
- District 2 has 738
- District 1 has 359
- District 4 has 115
In other nearby counties:
- San Joaquin County has 470 COVID-19-related deaths among 20,485 cases.
- Merced County has 145 deaths among 9,033 cases.
- Tuolumne County has 230 cases and four deaths.
- Mariposa County has 76 cases and two deaths.
As of Friday evening, there were 825,517 confirmed cases in California and 16,049 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were 7,329,996 U.S. cases and 208,669 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.
Corn mazes, other fall outings have safeguards
As the season has switched to fall, the search for family fun turns to corn mazes, pumpkin patches and a variety of other autumn-inspired activities. But this year’s seasonal transformation is unlike any other, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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.
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
President Donald Trump was taken to Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland late Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus, as White House officials describe an “anxious” administration shaken by the president’s diagnosis.
Trump’s positive COVID-19 test on Friday is not the first virus infection to rock the White House in the middle of a global pandemic. In 1919, then-President Woodrow Wilson came down with the Spanish flu during the 1918 pandemic.
As the coronavirus rages on, so too do the nightmares about accidentally shaking someone’s hand and running into a store without a face mask on. It’s a phenomena that has been observed during wars, terrorist attacks and past pandemics.
