Coronavirus update, April 14: How it’s spreading in Stanislaus County, state plans to reopen
Here is the latest on the coronavirus pandemic as it relates to Stanislaus County:
Latest facts on COVID-19 tests in Modesto area
Stanislaus County remains at two deaths. As of Monday, the county has 146 people who tested positive for the virus and 2,540 who tested negative. Thirty-seven of the positive cases were hospitalized, and 77 people have recovered.
Of those who tested positive, 82 are male and 64 female. Five are 17 or younger, 82 are between 18 and 49, 35 are between 50 and 64, and 24 are 65 or older.
Modesto has 64 of the positive cases, 24 are in unincorporated areas, 18 are in Ceres, 10 are in Patterson, seven are in Turlock, six are in Riverbank, five in Newman, and five are in Waterford. The other cases were not reported by city because of medical privacy rules regarding smaller cities.
- San Joaquin County has 17 COVID-19-related deaths among 309 cases.
- Merced County is at 69 cases, with three deaths. Of those who tested positive, 38 are female and 31 male. Two are 17 or younger, 45 are between 18 and 49, 15 are between 50 and 64, and seven are 65 or older. Thirty-six are on the east side and 33 are on the west side of the county.
- Tuolumne County has two cases and no deaths.
- Mariposa County has no cases, with a total of 79 people tested. Of those tests, 75 have returned negative; five are pending.
As of Monday morning, there were 24,371 confirmed cases in California and 731 deaths, according to the Los Angeles Times. There were 580,878 U.S. cases and 23.607 deaths, according to the New York Times.
Here is the state tracker.
New data from Stanislaus County
Stanislaus County public health released some additional data on a recent increase in coronavirus illness, showing the respiratory illness is spreading through person-to-person contact and transmission in the community.
As of Sunday, the county had recorded 62 cases of coronavirus caused by contact with a person who had tested positive, whether it was a family member or another close contact. That was an increase of 21 cases in that category since Wednesday of last week.
Governor to announce plan to reopen state
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will reveal plans Tuesday for gradually releasing California from the coronavirus restrictions that have kept 40 million residents indoors for much of the last month.
Newsom didn’t provide a specific date for rollbacks or other details but said Monday the decisions will rely on science “and not political pressure.”
That followed assertions by President Donald Trump that he is the ultimate decision-maker for determining how and when states ease restrictions designed to prevent people from congregating in order to slow COVID-19’s spread.
You can watch the governor’s announcement at noon at The Bee’s Facebook page.
Stanislaus will release dozens of inmates, not hundreds
A spokesman for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office said Monday afternoon that so far as he knows, no jail inmates here have yet been released under a statewide emergency bail schedule intended to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the incarcerated population.
The number released also will be far fewer than the possibly 300-plus reported earlier, Deputy District Attorney John Goold said in a news conference in the lobby of the DA’s Office.
Authorities said it’s more likely the number will be between 50 and 100.
Editorial: Releasing inmates in Stanislaus County is wrong
The Judicial Council of California, hoping to curb coronavirus outbreaks, should have allowed local discretion on early release of jail inmates. Stanislaus County is much better equipped than most, say the Modesto Bee’s editorial board.
Around the San Joaquin Valley, California, U.S.
If you haven’t already, you could soon see a refund from your car insurance carrier. California has ordered carriers to return premiums paid for at least March and April for insurance lines where the risk of loss has fallen substantially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that California, Oregon and Washington are developing a regional plan to reopen their economies after the coronavirus and to mitigate a future spread of COVID-19 in the West.
Researchers at the Army’s premiere infectious diseases lab are working on a more sensitive test that could detect the coronavirus in people who have no symptoms – a critical step in getting the nation back to “a new sense of normal.”.
An evangelical pastor in Virginia died of the coronavirus after he held a church service in defiance of safety protocols in late March, the church announced Sunday.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 7:14 AM.
