Coronavirus update: Fresno adds nearly 500 cases as hospitals struggle for ICU beds
The fast-moving spread of the coronavirus in Fresno County has pushed it to a total of 41,574 cases as of Wednesday, up 476 from the day before, according to the California Department of Public Health.
To date, there have been 514 deaths due to complications from the virus. The county will provide an update on the number of deaths Friday.
With the number of infections continuing to increase, the county over the past week has averaged about 367 new cases every day, driving more residents into hospitals and forcing the county to shut back down again.
As of Wednesday, there were 454 people with confirmed COVID-19 cases in Fresno County hospitals, according to the state Department of Public Health. That includes 74 patients in the ICU. Just seven available ICU hospital beds are available in Fresno County alone.
Hospital crisis intensifies in central San Joaquin Valley
Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new rules, if a county does not have at least 15% of its ICU hospital beds available, it must shut down for at least three weeks. Currently, the hospital crisis is the most critical in the 12-county San Joaquin Valley, where state health officials last week reported a total remaining ICU capacity of just 4.2%.
Across the six-county region of the central San Joaquin Valley, which includes Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties, hospitalizations reached nearly 800 patients Wednesday, including 116 in the ICU.
There have been a total of 100,005 confirmed coronavirus cases Valleywide as of Wednesday, marking yet another milestone in a surge that has seen cases grow by almost one-third in just the past month. Of those, 1,246 have died from the disease.
California surpasses new record high for sixth consecutive day
For six consecutive days, state officials have recorded the highest daily caseloads recorded during the pandemic, with more than 22,000 reported each day starting last Friday through Wednesday. The highest tally reached 31,789 cases recorded Wednesday, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The state surpassed 1.4 million total cases less than a month after hitting the million mark, currently standing at 1,452,878 total cases. There have been a total of 20,468 deaths, up 195 from the day before. California is now averaging about 26,748 cases per day, a 96.4% increase from two weeks ago.
The number of deaths is averaging to about 51.8 per 100,000 people, ranking third in the country for the highest number of deaths, following Texas and New York.
There are about 11,012 patients statewide with a confirmed case, another new state record, and 78% more than 14 days ago.
With the case rate increasing across the state, most California counties are now subject to new restrictions and a stay-at-home order that has forced hundreds of thousands of businesses to shut back down. Now, just 0.1% of the state’s residents, or about 40,000 people, are in looser levels of restrictions in four remote counties: Alpine, Inyo, Mariposa, and Sierra.
National coronavirus death toll nears 300,000
As of Thursday, at least 15,468,700 people have confirmed they have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Of those, 218,667 individuals across the country reported a positive diagnosis Wednesday, while an additional 3,055 Americans had died, according to a New York Times database.
There has been an average of 209,862 cases per day over the last seven days, increasing by 19% from the average two weeks prior.
On Wednesday, deaths climbed to a new record high of 2,885 from the number recorded just one week earlier. By the end of the day the number of deaths had reached 3,053, pushing the total number of deaths to 289,529.
About 106,688 Americans remain hospitalized nationwide, a 21% increase from two weeks ago.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 8:17 AM.