Slowly and steadily, COVID-19 is loosening its grip on the San Joaquin Valley. New cases are dropping, intensive care units are becoming less impacted, and every day, thousands more people are being vaccinated against the virus.
Simultaneously, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is facing ongoing litigation surrounding its response to the pandemic in the county jail. Following a lawsuit in July that alleged the jail wasn’t allowing incarcerated people to wear masks or visit with attorneys, a supplemental complaint filed last week by lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California alleges the jail’s social distancing policy amounts to cruel and unusual punishment by confining inmates to their cells for upwards of 23 hours per day.
This week’s COVID-19 update walks through the week’s biggest vaccine headlines as well as the latest in that lawsuit, featuring excerpts from interviews with Dylan Verner-Crist, a policy investigator with the ACLU of Northern California, and plaintiffs Charles Criswell and Samuel Camposeco.
Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot for Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare Counties (note that some numbers may have changed between the interview and publication):
As of March 4:
- 4,010 total deaths out of 315,327 total cases
- 443 people hospitalized and 89 in ICUs
- 212 deaths reported in the last week
- 496 average cases reported daily in last week
As of 1 week previous, Feb. 25:
- 3,798 total deaths out of 311,856 total cases
- 588 people hospitalized and 136 in ICUs
- 200 deaths reported in the last week
- 532 average cases reported daily in last week
As of 4 weeks previous, Feb. 4:
- 3,217 total deaths out of 294,348 total cases
- 1,006 people hospitalized and 189 in ICUs
- 200 deaths reported in the last week
- 1,432 average cases reported daily in last week
You can always find up-to-date information for your county here.
