COVID-19 deaths in three months equal to valley fever deaths in past five years

Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist with UC Irvine, said valley fever deaths and cases in Kern are also impacted by the number of prisons here, which drives up the valley fever incidence. Hernandez and Noymer said influenza would likely be a better illness to compare with COVID-19 but exact annual figures of flu deaths over the years at the county level are hard to come by.