Coronavirus cases mount, more than 130 total infections in Fresno and nearby counties
Coronavirus cases in the central San Joaquin Valley, Fresno County and surrounding Valley counties continued to climb Monday and Tuesday as health officials in Fresno, Tulare, Merced and Madera counties collectively reported 26 new patients with confirmed positive tests for the contagion.
In its first update since Saturday, Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra said 10 new cases cropped up by Monday afternoon, increasing Fresno County’s total to 53. The county’s next update is expected during a regularly scheduled late-Wednesday afternoon webcast.
Eleven additional cases reported Monday and Tuesday in Tulare County grew the number of patients there to 45, with one death over the weekend. Merced County on Monday reported one positive test, bringing their total number of cases to 10 residents confirmed to have the virus.
Madera County acknowledged three more positive tests, raising the patient count to 21, including one death earlier this month.
And Kings County on Tuesday reported its third case.
Mariposa County hasn’t had a coronavirus case.
Across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties, health officials have reported a total of 132 cases since the COVID-19 outbreak reached the Valley at the start of March.
Of the 53 cases now present in Fresno County, Vohra said eight are attributed to “community transmission,” which means that health investigators cannot determine precisely how the patient was exposed to the virus.
Seventeen cases are believed to be related to travel to areas where the virus is known to be, and nine cases are deemed close person-to-person contact with someone who’s infected. The rest of the cases remain under investigation.
Two of the three new patients in Madera County are 60 years or older and are under home isolation. The third is a man under the age of 25, also under home isolation.
Three of the new Tulare County cases are among adults ages 65 or older, said Tammie Weyker-Adkins, a spokeswoman for the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency. One is between the ages of 41 and 64.
Seven of the new Tulare County cases are patients under the age of 40, including two children under 18 years old.
Need for ventilators, supplies
The increase in cases Valleywide comes as hospitals in the region brace for the prospect of greater numbers of patients. They have expressed concern about the demand it may place upon their resources – including ventilator machines used to help seriously ill patients breathe.
Vohra said the number of available ventilators across Fresno County’s hospitals changes from day to day, depending on how many are in use for patients. But currently, “at the county level we have 100 ventilators available to be used,” he said. “That’s what our hospitals are reporting.”
But if an expected surge in COVID-19 cases materializes, Vohra said, that won’t be enough. “It’s going to be a factor (multiple) of that,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to secure more ventilators.”
The mere volume of ventilators is only one component of need. Many coronavirus disease patients, when they develop pneumonia, “may need a respirator for several weeks,” Vohra said. “It’s not just the number of ventilators, but the length or duration of an (intensive care unit) admission” for a patient. And after a patient comes off the machine, the ventilator must undergo a thorough sterilization and may need replacement parts, adding to the time for which the machine is unavailable.
Also a concern is how more cases may affect hospitals’ supplies of personal protective equipment such as face masks, face shields, gloves and gowns to keep doctors, nurses and hospital staff safe from contracting the respiratory disease caused by the virus. Hand sanitizer is also in high demand by medical facilities.
Fresno’s major hospitals – Saint Agnes Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center and Community Regional Medical Center – are all accepting donations of new medical N95 masks and other supplies, as well as homemade masks that can help extend the life of medical masks.
Mary Lisa Russell, a spokeswoman for Community Medical Centers, said she’s talked to lots of people who are interested in making homemade fabric masks for hospital staff, and others who are donating gloves. The organization, which operates Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno and Clovis Community Medical Center in Clovis, is also providing would-be donors with a pattern for making homemade surgical masks.
At the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in north Fresno, spokeswoman Kerri Leedy issued a statement about “the outpouring of concern and generosity” from individuals, groups and local businesses asking how to donate supplies.
Saint Agnes spokeswoman Kelley Sanchez said that while the hospital is accepting donations, “we have plenty of N95 masks to protect our colleagues who are caring for COVID-19 patients” and people who may have been exposed.”
The hospital is working with a company that reprocesses N95, surgical and procedural masks, which Sanchez said “gives us a mechanism to keep replenishing our supply.” She added that the hospital uses fabric isolation gowns that can be laundered rather than disposable gowns.
Volunteers to the rescue
Volunteers, however, are stepping up to make sure there isn’t a shortage of masks and other gear for Valley hospitals as confirmed coronavirus cases mount.
Jennifer Lau, who worked for about six years as a nurse, launched a Facebook group called Nurse Angel Network less than two weeks ago; since that time, it has attracted more than 200 followers. That includes about 15 volunteers who are sewing masks, and fabricating mask-sewing kits, as fast as they can to help with the potential shortage of protective gear.
“It takes a lot of work to sew one mask, so we’ve got some people putting together kits” that have pre-cut fabric and ties, as well as instructions, Lau said.
“I hope we can produce as many masks as possible, the more the better,” she added. “We can only produce so much right now, but the more volunteers we have, the more we can make. … We don’t know the extent to which this COVID-19 is going to last, so as long as hospitals say they need them, we’ll continue to make them.”
In neighboring Madera County, more than 80 people have joined a Facebook page, the Madera Surgical Mask Brigade, with the goal of churning out homemade masks for workers at Madera Community Hospital, where the region’s first confirmed coronavirus case was reported on March 6.
“These masks won’t be a replacement for the proper N95s,” page administrators Renee and Fredo Martin said. “We’ve been told they will likely be worn over the N95s and surgical masks to make them last a little longer, or given to guests or other personnel not dealing with COVID-19 patients in order to preserve as many of the high end masks for doctors and nurses as possible.”
Renee Martin said on March 27 that Madera Community Hospital had asked for 1,100 masks, some with elastic straps and others with fabric ties, for doctors and other patient-care workers.
Also in Madera County, Valley Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Zara Arboleda said the leadership and staff have “been humbled by offers for donated supplies and many inquiries about how individuals can help.” Commercially-made products such as N95s, surgical and procedure masks, goggles and face shields, gowns and other supplies need to be in unopened original packaging, Arboleda said. Homemade masks need to be of washable fabric.
The statewide situation
Across California, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 47 of the state’s 58 counties. As of Monday afternoon, nearly 7,200 cases were reported by individual county health departments, including 46 deaths.
Los Angeles County has been the hardest-hit area of the state, with almost 2,500 cases and 44 deaths. Santa Clara County, in the heart of the Bay Area’s Silicon Valley, reported almost 850 cases and 28 deaths.
Those counties with no confirmed positive exposures among residents who have been tested are largely in California’s most rural and sparsely populated areas: Alpine, Del Norte, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Modoc, Plumas, Sierra, Tehama and Trinity counties.
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 6:01 PM.
