MADERA — The total number of COVID-19 cases in Madera County increased to 85 Monday as county health officials reported one new case, a man in his 50s who contracted the virus via community spread.
Meanwhile, in a Memorial Day press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing mounting pressure from protestors and President Donald Trump, unveiled plans for reopening California places of worship — and allowing in-person retail shopping.
The governor said Monday that churches, temples and mosques could reopen, pending approval from their county public health officials, on the condition that they limit attendance to 25 percent of the building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees — whichever is lower. To read the new State guidelines regarding places of worship, click here.
In-store retail shopping can also open statewide as long as businesses abide by new COVID-19 protocols that include regular health screening of employees and maintaining social distancing practices among both employees and customers.
On Monday, Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) officials said the county’s latest virus victim was in home isolation while the county’s contact tracing task force tried to determine how many individuals might have come in contact with the man.
County health officials also reported Monday that 20 cases remain “active” while 63 people who were confirmed with the virus have now recovered.
One man in his 70s has remained hospitalized with COVID-19 since March 30 while all of the other active cases are in home isolation.
An additional 81 individuals are currently being “monitored,” MCDPH reported Monday.
Two Madera County residents, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 70s, died in late March from COVID-19. Both of those victims reportedly had underlying health conditions.
Two other local residents, a man in his 30s and another male under 20, were removed from the confirmed case list in the last week after their initial tests were deemed “false positives.”
For the latest update from MCDPH, click here.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, there were 96,361 confirmed COVID-19 cases across California, with the total number of deaths statewide now at 3,768.
More than half of all COVID-19-related deaths in the state have occurred in Los Angeles County, where officials reported Monday that the total number of confirmed cases had topped 45,000.
With 1,641 confirmed case and 75 deaths, Tulare County has also been a hot spot, with more than half of the deaths recorded there involving nursing home residents.
Nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins, there have been 1.66 million confirmed coronavirus cases, with the U.S. death toll on Monday approaching 100,000 (98,094).
