Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 3-25-21 E-edition

Thursday, March 25, 2021
Vol. 2, No. 38
Coronavirus Update
Fresno
is still
trending
purple
But numbers point toward move up to red tier next week By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
One more week.
Based on trending num- bers, that's all the time Fresno County residents will have to wait until the county improves to California's red tier cat- egory for coronavirus cases. When that expected shift in tiers occurs March 30, the county would join neighbor- ing Tulare County in a slight relaxing rules for indoor busi- ness capacity for restaurants, retail businesses, churches and government offices.
As of the March 23 report from the Fresno County De- partment of Public, the coun- ty's rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population had dropped to 9.6, below the newly-restructured 10 level that its needs to qualify for the red tier. Now, simply holding course or further re- duction in cases this week will turn the county red in the state tier rankings.
Kings and Madera counties also have dipped below the 10 mark, and one more week will allow them to switch to the red tier. Tulare County improved to the red tier on March 16,
See COVID on page A16
50 cents
Rain aside, prep football's back
Photos by Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
ABOVE: Dinuba High School parents, staff and cheerleaders braved rain and wind gusts to watch the Emperors football team participate in their Green and White scrimmage on March 19 at Claud Hebert Field.
LEFT: White team running back Josiah Reyes fended off Green team tackler Jose Arduengo to pick up yardage dur- ing the intrasquad scrimmage. Dinuba High officially kicks off its revised four-game 2021 spring season on Friday, March 26, with a 7:30 p.m. home game against the Tulare Western Mustangs.
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
It's only a one-time oc- currence, but a spring high school football season began for some region teams this past weekend.
The Dinuba High Emper- ors held their Green-White preseason scrimmage on a rainy and windy night on March 19. A day later, the Sanger High Apaches partici- pated in a controlled scrim- mage against the Lemoore High Tigers at Tom Flores Stadium.
The season is scheduled to officially kick off this Friday with home games for Dinuba (against Tulare Western, 7:30 p.m.), Sanger (against Kings- burg, 7 p.m.) and Reedley (against Hoover, 7:30 p.m.).
For more details on last week's action and this week's scheduled games, see Sports on page A9.
Sanger increases its vaccination efforts
By Juanite Adame
Mid Valley Times
Sanger City Manager Tim Chapa said because of the recent Fresno County partnership, as well as an existing part- nership with United Health Centers, future vaccination sites would be made available to the community, with a com- bined capacity of nearly 600 vaccina- tions per day.
“Our vaccination efforts have been incredibly successful,” Chapa said dur- ing the city's report at the March 18 council meeting. “Through our own networking, we received a call from Walgreens and they asked us if we could put something together last Saturday [March 13] to reach out to 400 commu- nity members focused on the eligible categories, 65 years and older, farm workers, food service workers.”
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
A sign in front of the Sanger Community Center tells of the COVID-19 vaccine loca- tion. The city has partnered with Walgreens to provide vaccinations in the city.
Chapa said that with assistance from the Sanger Fire Department and the County of Fresno, 485 people were able to receive COVID-19 vaccinations on March 13.
“Walgreens had received an allotment
of Johnson and Johnson vaccinations,” he said. “They received those from the state and their target was to those individuals who are currently eligible but who have had difficulty in accessing an appoint- ment, getting a vaccine, whether it was because they couldn’t access the internet or language barriers,”
A few days later, on March 16, Fres- no County announced that the Sanger Community Center, located at 730 Rec- reation Ave. would be home to the latest county clinic.
“The announcement [from Fresno County] was made on Tuesday [March 16] that is the day our facility went live,” he said.
Chapa also added that the latest vac- cination site sponsored by the county would not be restricted to solely Sanger
See VACCINE on page A2
Dinuba woman killed, 4 others injured in head-on crash
Victim ID'd as 19-year-old Katelyn Martinez
MVT Staff Report
A 19-year-old Dinuba woman was killed while another woman from Di- nuba suffered moderate injuries in a head-on crash west of the city the evening of March 20.
Katelyn Martinez died in the 9:15 p.m. crash, which occurred on Road 56 just north of Avenue 416 between Dinuba and Reedley.
According to reports from the California Highway Patrol, Martinez was driving a 1995 Honda south on Road 56 and for an unknown reason was in the northbound lane of traf- fic. She crashed head-on into a 2010 Honda driven by Natalie Ontiveros of Dinuba.
Martinez died at the scene, while Ontiveros and three passengers in her vehicle were transported to
Community Re- gional Medical Center in Fres- no with injuries ranging from mi- nor to moderate. Officers with the Visalia office of the CHP respond- ed to the crash scene.
Katelyn Martinez
Investigators
said it is not known if alcohol or drugs were a factor and the crash is still under investigation, according to the CHP.
A car wash to help with Mar- tinez's funeral expenses has been scheduled for Saturday, March 27. It will be held starting at 8 a.m. at Mondo’s Auto Repair, 159 S. Arkona Ave. in Dinuba.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
A makeshift memorial for Katelyn Martinez was set up on the west side of Road 56 on March 23. The 19-year-old Dinuba resident was killed in a head-on collision at the site the evening of March 21. The crash also injured four other people.
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