Our Response to COVID-19: Information
Globally
Good evening,

December 4, 2020 -- Yesterday, Iran became the 14th nation having tallied over 1 million covid-19 infections. Today's global death toll is the 4th highest and the world has added 4,221,736 new cases in the last week, a massive daily average of 603,105 positive tests. The global daily average of new deaths is now 10,744: one person dies of COVID-19 every 8 seconds.

The explosion of US cases is now completely out of control, beating records two days in a row, reaching peaks seven times higher than the first wave's and three times higher than documented during the worst summer days' second wave. And yet, still not a single word from the White House.

As indicated in the last report, Turkey has been peaking almost every day with more than 30,000 daily cases, while South Korea, one of the earliest hot spots of the global contagion, is also experiencing a surge.

COVID-19 in the world today:

  • COVID-19 Global cases: 66,211,749 (+684,807)
  • COVID-19 Global deaths: 1,523,605 (+12,126)
  • COVID-19 Global death rate: 2.30%
  • COVID-19 Global testing*: 1,037,191,239 confirmed tests (+6,767,097)
  • COVID-19 Global positivity rate: 6.38%
  • COVID-19 Global single-day positivity rate: 10.12%

*: incomplete data set.
Tip: click on any of the graphs for larger and clearer images and click on READ MORE to view the complete articles. Also, please forgive the occasional typos.
England Lockdown Cuts Virus Cases 30%, Study Shows | bloomberg.com
Cases of coronavirus in England fell 30% after lockdown measures were rolled out in November, according to a study by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI U.K. Ltd.

The findings show cases were rising as the country entered a four-week lockdown on Nov. 5 and that a sharp decrease followed as national restrictions were rolled out, according to the report published on Monday.

The study supports findings “that stronger measures would be needed in some areas to prevent the epidemic from growing and that local tiers needed to be toughened to keep the virus under control once national measures end this week,” the report said.

The results come as lockdown measures in England are due to end this week and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing opposition from some in his Conservative Party to his plan to replace the lockdown with a tiered system of restrictions for different areas. Hopes are that a vaccine can be administered quickly, beginning as soon as next month.
Turkey COVID-19 data

  • global rank: 18
  • 765,997 cases (+32,736) PEAK
  • 14,503 deaths (+187)
  • 19,338,181 tests (+194,435)
  • positivity rate 3.96%
  • 24hr positivity rate: 16.84%
South Korea COVID-19 data

  • global rank: 94
  • 36,332 cases (+629)
  • 536 deaths (+7)
  • 3,157,410 tests
  • positivity rate 1.15%
  • 24hr positivity rate: 2.46%
In the US
Last week, CovidActNow added a new color: the dark red is now used to indicate severe outbreaks. The map now also works at the county level (see below).
41 states reported at least 1,000 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours. Today’s national report set a new record of 235,272 new infections, 14,629 more than yesterday's record. Covid-19 killed 2,716 Americans today, slightly lower than yesterday's daily record of 2,923 single-day covid-19 deaths. A record 101,276 covid-19 patients are hospitalized today in the United States. The numbers are worsening every day: the hospitalization numbers never broke 60,000 during the first two waves. This means that the daily number of COVID-19 victims will keep growing and probably settle above a horrific 4,000 daily average, before Christmas. November 2020 was the most infectious month of the pandemic with almost 4.5 million new confirmed covid-19 cases in the US.
Pennsylvania COVID-19 deaths

  • national rank: 9
  • 404,699 cases (+12,089) peak
  • 11,220 deaths (+189)
  • 5,859,001 tests (,295)+76
  • positivity rate 6.91%
  • 24hr positivity rate: 15.85%
Maryland COVID-19 data

  • national rank: 25
  • 209,191 cases (+3,792) peak
  • 4,790 deaths (+26)
  • 4,583,228 tests (+55,912)
  • positivity rate 4.56%
  • 24hr positivity rate: 6.78%
COVID-19 in the USA

  • Cases: 14,772,535 (+235,772) PEAK
  • Deaths: 285,550 (+2,716)
  • Death rate: 1.93%
  • Testing: 203,884,001 individual tests (+2,109,194)
  • Positivity rate 7.25%
  • Single-day positivity date: 11.15%
US top 5 infected states:

  1. Texas: 1,331,516 COVID-19 cases, 22,977 deaths
  2. California: 1,315,352 COVID-19 cases, 19,790 deaths
  3. Florida: 1,039,207 COVID-19 cases, 18,997 deaths
  4. Illinois: 770,088 COVID-19 cases, 13,782 deaths
  5. New York: 724,437 COVID-19 cases, 34,886 deaths
In California
Pastor of California Megachurch That Defied Lockdown Order Dies of COVID-19 | thedailybeats.com
A California pastor has died from COVID-19, five weeks after his megachurch reopened in defiance of the state’s ban on indoor religious services. Bob Bryant, a 58-year-old associate pastor at the Water of Life Community Church in San Bernardino County, contracted the virus in November and eventually suffered severe pneumonia in his lungs, the Los Angeles Times reports. San Bernardino is one of the hardest hit regions in a state struggling to contain a vicious winter wave of the virus. But the church nevertheless ignored a mid-July order banning indoor church services. Church officials insisted to the Times that Byrant didn’t come to church after he developed symptoms but they weren’t sure when the pastor was last in the church.
California's new daily cases peaked again today.

  • COVID-19 California cases: 1,315,352 (+24,138) PEAK
  • COVID-19 California deaths: 19,790 (+202) (August 4 peak was 203)
  • COVID-19 California death rate: 1.50%
  • COVID-19 California testing: 24,675,478 individual tests (+200,836)
  • COVID-19 California positivity rate: 5.33%
  • COVID-19 California single-day positivity rate: 12.02%
In the Central Valley
San Joaquin Valley region falls under 15% ICU capacity, meeting criteria for stay-at-home order | abc30.com
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The San Joaquin Valley is on track to be one of the first regions to enact Gov. Gavin Newsom's new, Regional Stay Home Order due to limited ICU capacity.

When the region's ICU hospital capacity falls below 15% capacity, the new stay home order is triggered for a period of at least three weeks.

As of Friday night, the ICU capacity in the San Joaquin Valley is 14.1%, which would mandate the stay home order for the following counties: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne.

Newsom's calling for the stay home order would not go into effect until 1 pm on Saturday. From there, all of the counties in the San Joaquin Valley region would have 24 hours to implement it.

While the state is mainly leaving it to local leaders for the order to be implemented, Newsom said on Thursday that there will be consequences for the counties that fail to cooperate.

Once the stay home order is implemented, bars, wineries, nail salons, hair salons and barbershops, and other personal care services will need to close. Private gatherings of any size will not be allowed.

Schools that were given a waiver to reopen will be allowed to stay open.

Restaurants will have to remove both indoor and outdoor dining and move back to take-out and delivery only.

All retail stores will be allowed to stay open at 20% capacity.

All non-essential travel is "temporarily restricted statewide," regardless of what zone you live in. Hotels and motels are now restricted to only guests traveling for an "essential" reason.
The Madera County Department of Public Health COVID-19 Update:

12/4/2020 COVID-19 UPDATE: Reporting 54 cases from the public and 1 from Valley State Prison (total 55 cases) bringing the total number of reported cases to 6,537. 
Of the 6,537:
  • 1,085 active case (including 22 Madera County residents hospitalized in Madera County) 
  • 5,362 recovered (7 released from isolation) 
  • 90 deceased 
Madera County is averaging 62 new cases per day (39 per 100K), with 433 new cases revealed over the last 7 days. We need to get down to an average of 11 cases per day or 77 cases over 7 days to switch from purple to red (from "widespread" to "substantial" contagion risk).

Today, the seven local counties together reported 1,593 new infections and 28 new coronavirus deaths. In the combined 7 counties, COVID-19 has infected 137,606 people and has killed 1,653 residents of our region since it claimed its first central valley victim, in Madera, on March 26, 2020.

Our friends and neighbors are needlessly dying, many families are suffering. Science and the courage to follow its logic will solve this pandemic, any other discourse is inadequate.
COVID-19 in Madera + 6 local counties (+% is the positivity rate)

  • Mariposa: 148 cases (+4), 3 deaths, 9,548 tests, 1.55+%
  • Merced: 12,891 cases (+269), 191 deaths (+5), 79+,856 tests, 16.14+%
  • Madera: 6,537 cases (+55), 90 deaths, 100,749 tests, 6.49+%
  • Fresno: 40,033 cases (393), 506 deaths (+18), 482,819 tests, 8.29+%
  • Tulare: 22,386 cases (+298), 317 deaths (+2), est. 223,860 tests, 10.00+%
  • Kings: 11,751 cases (+69), 91 deaths, 158,546 tests, 7.41+%
  • Kern: 43,860 cases (+505), 455 deaths (+3), 270,112 tests, 16.24+%

COVID-19 in the 7 counties together

  • 7 counties cases: 137,606 (+1,593)
  • 7 counties deaths: 1,653 (+28)
  • 7 counties death rate: 1.20%
  • 7 Counties tests: 1,325,500 (est.)
  • 7 Counties positivity rate: 10.38%
This is the 38th weekly report since the pandemic reached the central valley (for the week ending last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving). Sadly, the local surge is following the national trend. This week's report is the highest it has been since the second week of August, with 9,381 new cases detected in the 7 counties and a surge in covid-19 related deaths (+63), the highest in two months.
Keep observing the simple yet proven safety habits of physical-distancing, mask-wearing, and frequent hand-washing, that will help drive down new infections and new deaths numbers, to a level low enough so as to give us a chance to reopen our schools for onsite education and thus, reopen our economy. Nothing else will work until we have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.
From our hearts to yours,

Fredo and Renee Martin
Workingarts Marketing, Inc.

PS: We welcome comments and questions. If you wish to review previous reports, we now host past issues here.