After Supervisor’s COVID Diagnosis, County May Modify Board Room

Fresno Supervisor Steve Brandau’s COVID-19 diagnosis may result in additional safety precautions at Board of Supervisors meetings, a county official said Friday.

Brandau acknowledged the supervisors’ meeting dais provides less than the recommended 6 feet of separation between board members.

“I’m probably about five feet away from my colleagues on each side,” Brandau said. “It’s not quite six feet – I don’t think. There’s no Plexiglas.”

Steve Brandau

“I’m probably about five feet away from my colleagues on each side. It’s not quite six feet – I don’t think. There’s no Plexiglas.”–Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau

On Friday afternoon, public information officer Jordan Scott said county officials are proud of how they’ve responded to Brandau’s COVID-19 diagnosis, but they are always looking for opportunities to make things safer for employees.

GV Wire℠ asked Scott if that could include changes to the dais. “I’m sure we’ll look at the dais itself to see what can be done,” Scott said.

Fresno County COVID-19 Case Counts

Case counts in Fresno County are growing, but have remained fairly steady over the last several days.

Updated Numbers: November 6, 2020 at 4:35 PM

• Total Cases: 32,056 (+104)*
• Total Deaths: 454 (+7)
• Currently Hospitalized: 103 (+4)**
• Recovered: 21,142 (+326)***
• Test Results Received and Processed: 377,862 (+8,230)

Fresno County health officer Dr. Rais Vohra says the county remains in the state’s ‘red’ tier for reopening.

Vohra says the state actually gave the county credit Tuesday for the level of testing now being performed. The credit is applied to the cases per 100,000 number. For example, on Tuesday instead of having 6.3 cases per 100,000, the state credit brought that down to 6.1 cases per 100,000.

GV Wire℠ asked Vohra if he’s seeing enough testing this week to ensure the state will once again credit us next week. “I’m optimistic,” answered Vohra.

He wants people to better utilize the three state testing sites in the county where the state is pre-paying for 140 tests daily at each location.

The OptumServe testing sites are located at Fresno City College, the Sanger Community Center, and the West Fresno Regional Center. There are no out-of-pocket costs for medically-necessary testing. For those with medical insurance, Verily or OptumServe will bill insurance companies. For the uninsured, the government pays for the test.

Before going to the site, register online for an appointment at: https://lhi.care/covidtesting or call 1-888-634-1123. Vohra says once you’ve registered the first time, you can go get tested regularly without having to go through the same intake process every time.

‘MedWatch Today’ COVID-19 Special

Community Medical Centers has produced a special ‘MedWatch Today‘ aimed at highlighting the stories of what some of their healthcare workers are doing to help patients and themselves get through the pandemic.

“This weekend we’re airing a special on COVID-19 and how the virus has affected Community Medical Centers’ hospitals and staff,” says MedWatch Today Show Host Connie Tran.

The show airs on KSEE24, Saturday at 7 pm and on CBS47, Sunday at 6:30 pm. Several of the stories slated to air can be viewed at this link.