Health officials confirm 3 new cases of COVID-19 in Madera County

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The numbers are rising as Madera County now has a total of six confirmed coronavirus cases, while over a hundred other people remain quarantined.

"Our intent is to stay in containment as long as possible," says Dr. Eric Sergienko. "We know that's less impactful."

Public health officials confirmed the new cases after receiving the lab tests on Sunday evening.

The three new tests are related to the county's confirmed cases from last week.

"Based on the contact investigation, we were able to identify over 140 contacts in a 24-hour period and got them in quarantine," says Madera County Public Health Director Sara Bosse. "The one who had symptoms were tested."

Health officials are waiting on results from several other labs, and say two people from the quarantined group are starting to show signs of COVID-19.

The county's first case was travel-related and since then, that person has recovered and is free to return to life as usual.

"Once a person is cleared and hasn't had symptoms for seven days, they are no longer contagious," Bosse said.

County health officials are only expecting their numbers to go up, which is why they're asking folks to stay home.

"The intent of both of these is to delay as long as possible the pandemic response, which is a surge when we start seeing an overwhelming number of patients and can't provide the same standard of care 12 on a day to day basis," Dr. Sergienko said.

Health officials ask anyone with symptoms to call their provider, and if they don't get a prompt response to call 3-1-1, so health officials can assess whether you need to be tested.

For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to abc30.com/coronavirus/.