Fresno County near peak hospitalizations, as wave of new coronavirus cases continues
More than 300 people remained in Fresno County hospitals for treatment of confirmed COVID-19 as of Tuesday, as the surge in coronavirus infections continues statewide.
The number of hospitalizations is now approaching the summer’s peak of demand for inpatient services, which pushed hospitals close to their limits.
The California Department of Health Services reported Tuesday local hospitals were caring for 305 Fresno County patients with confirmed coronavirus infections. That’s only eight short of the high-water mark of 313 patients at the end of July, with little sign of slowing.
Of the 305 patients, there were 45 sick enough to require treatment in intensive-care units for the respiratory illness caused by the virus. Coupled with other serious illnesses and injuries that hospitals are caring for, hospitals across the county reported ICU bed capacity was down to just 12 as of Monday.
More than 30 other patients were in hospitals in Fresno County for suspected cases of COVID-19 that had not yet been confirmed through testing, the state reported.
Six-county region numbers
Valleywide, the number of people hospitalized for coronavirus disease topped 500 for the first time since mid-August, reaching 508 on Monday across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties. Of those, 91 were in intensive-care units. There were also 59 more patients with suspected COVID-19 infections.
The increase in hospitalizations corresponds to a steep increase in new COVID-19 infections being detected by testing in Fresno County and across the Valley.
On Tuesday, the total number of infections in the six-county region since the start of the pandemicsurpassed 90,000, including more than 5,100 cases reported by Valley counties over the past week.
The rapid rise in the rate of new cases, both across the Valley and throughout California. prompted the state Department of Public Health to issue two separate updates to its tier assignments for counties under its color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
As of Tuesday, 52 of California’s 58 counties – including five of those six central San Joaquin Valley counties – now occupy purple Tier 1, the most restrictive level of the business-reopening guidelines.
The four tier levels are purple Tier 1, representing “widespread” risk for spreading the virus in the community; red Tier 2, “substantial” risk; orange Tier 3, “moderate” risk; and yellow Tier 4, “minimal” risk.
Mariposa County is the only county in the Valley region that is outside the purple tier. It had been in the least-restrictive yellow tier as recently as mid-November, but last week was bumped back to orange Tier 3 because of an increase in cases, and then was pushed further into red Tier 2 on Saturday and remained there as of Tuesday.
The tier assignments are based on two key measures: the average number of new cases that arise each day per 100,000 residents in a county, and the percentage of people tested for coronavirus over the course of a week whose results come back positive for the infection.
In Tuesday’s tier assignment, the state reported in the seven-day period ending Nov. 25, an average of almost 14 new cases per 100,000 residents surfaced every day in Fresno County. That’s nearly double the rate of seven cases per 100,000 people that is the threshold for the county to move back into red Tier 2, where indoor business activity can be expanded.
In its testing positivity rate, 6.4 percent of COVID-19 tests came back as positive, better than the 8% ceiling for red Tier 2.
Around the Valley
Coronavirus status updates for central San Joaquin Valley counties on Tuesday included:
Fresno County: 144 new cases reported by the state Department of Public Health, 38,712 to date; seven additional deaths, 488 to date. Fresno County reports deaths on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Kings County: 68 new cases, 11,434 to date; one additional death, 89 to date. Kings County’s figures include more than 5,600 cases among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 56 new cases, 6,436 to date; no additional deaths, 86 to date.
Mariposa County: Four new cases, 143 to date; one additional death, three to date.
Merced County: 106 new cases, 12,281 to date; one additional death, 182 to date.
Tulare County: 419 new cases, 21,332 to date; no additional deaths, 312 to date.
Since the first cases of novel coroanvirus were confirmed in the Valley in early March, more than 90,200 residents have tested positive, whether they experienced symptoms or not. Of those, 1,160 have lost their lives to the disease.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Fresno County near peak hospitalizations, as wave of new coronavirus cases continues."
