Last August, the state of California introduced a “health equity metric” in its method of evaluating progress in fighting COVID-19. Ostensibly, that meant the state would be grading counties not just on their countywide case rates, positivity rates, testing and (later) vaccine numbers, but also on all of those measures within their most disadvantaged census tracts.
This week’s COVID update features two segments: In the first, we present a feature that explores the impacts of the Fresno County COVID-19 Equity Project, a joint effort between more than a dozen organizations as well as UCSF Fresno, Fresno State, the city and the county. At the core of their work on equity is building community trust, and their methodology is now being adopted in other parts of the state.
The discussion that follows explores the idea of equity and what that means in the context of our local pandemic response, featuring excerpts of conversations with Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra, and Dr. Venise Curry, a physician and consultant with the Equity Project’s African American Coalition.
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 June 3:
- 4,922 total deaths out of 334,919 total cases
- 128 people hospitalized and 28 in ICUs
- 18 deaths reported in the last week
- 74 average cases reported daily in last week
- 1,992,680 vaccine doses administered to date
As of 1 week previous, May 27:
- 4,904 total deaths out of 334,399 total cases
- 131 people hospitalized and 22 in ICUs
- 21 deaths reported in the last week
- 98 average cases reported daily in last week
- 1,956,295 vaccine doses administered to date
As of 4 weeks previous, May 6:
- 4,837 total deaths out of 331,489 total cases
- 175 people hospitalized and 36 in ICUs
- 36 deaths reported in the last week
- 158 average cases reported daily in last week
- 1,717,044 vaccine doses administered to date
You can always find up-to-date information for your countyhere.
