Coronavirus update: Fresno County nears 45,000 cases as first vaccines are distributed
The California Department of Public Health reported a total of 44,726 positive coronavirus cases in Fresno County, up by 612 on Tuesday. A total of 557 Fresno County residents have died due to complications from COVID-19, increasing by 15 people on Tuesday.
There have been a total of 26,742 people who have recovered, increasing by 548 on Tuesday.
As part of a massive vaccine distribution effort, Fresno County early Tuesday morning received 7,800 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, where about 40% of those were distributed to local hospitals. Hospital workers treating COVID-19 patients are first in line to receive the vaccine, which is voluntary. Fresno County’s top health officials called the vaccine’s arrival “bittersweet” as patients continued to die and hospitals struggled to staff facilities.
The region that makes up the central San Joaquin Valley had just 16 ICU beds available as of Tuesday. That leaves about 1.6 ICU beds available per 100,000 people.
To make space for additional hospitalized patients, Fresno County on Tuesday set up a 50-bed alternate care site at the Community Regional Medical Center, according to city officials. The site will likely be ready for patients on Friday and include 30 additional staff to work with the facility’s staff. The alternate care site will be available to all Fresno hospitals.
In Fresno County and the neighboring Valley counties of Kings, Madera, Merced, and Tulare, hospitals currently have about 865 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases as of Monday. Of those, 112 were in the ICU. Out of 312 licensed ICU beds, 16 were available as of Monday to accommodate new patients.
California COVID-19 case rate quadrupled in just two months
As of Tuesday, California had a total of 1,647,554 confirmed cases, up by 31,903. A total of 21,495 have died, increasing by 295 from the day before.
The rolling two-week average of daily new cases in the past two weeks has jumped from 4,200 to over 28,000. The statewide rate for tests returning positive has more than quadrupled, from 2.5% in mid-October to 10.6% as of Tuesday.
There are currently 14,283 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the state, roughly about 70% more than the average from two weeks ago. Of those, about 3,500 remain in the ICU. The state now has fewer than 1,500 ICU beds available. The hospitalized virus total grew by a net of 648 patients between Monday and Tuesday, a new single-day record for the pandemic.
Within California’s hospitals, nearly one-fifth of all 74,000 licensed hospital beds in California were occupied by virus patients as of a Monday, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The vaccine developed by Pfizer with German biotech company BioNTech received emergency use authorization in the U.S. late last week, and the first shots in the nation were given Monday.
California began distributing the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine to front-line health care workers and long-term care facilities Monday in Eureka, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Other counties statewide, including in the central San Joaquin Valley, will receive about 327,000 shots on Tuesday and Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
Between Pfizer and Moderna — the two companies that had a vaccine with a 95% efficacy rate — and other companies, Newsom has said California could receive a little more than two million doses before the end of the month. The drug company Moderna expects to have its vaccine approved by federal officials before the end of the week.
U.S. negotiations with Pfizer begin to produce additional vaccine doses
Nationwide, cases have now exceeded 16.7 million, up by 201,649 Tuesday. The average of new cases per day has reached 206,557 as of Tuesday, an increase of 28% from the average earlier this month.
An additional 2,957 people have died from the virus, totaling 303,963 as of Tuesday. There are now about 112,816 hospitalized patients in the U.S.
President Donald Trump and his administration on Tuesday began negotiations with Pfizer to strike a deal that would help the company produce millions of additional COVID-19 vaccine doses. Those doses would be distributed to Americans within the first six months of the new year, The New York Times reports.
This past summer, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, agreed to provide the U.S. with 100 million doses by the end of March, enough to vaccinate about 50 million people with the required two shots. U.S. officials within the past month asked the company for an additional 100 million doses, but Pfizer said it had already sold its remaining available doses to other countries around the world. The company said the earliest it could produce more doses wouldn’t be until around the middle of next year.
But over the last few days, the company said it could potentially produce more doses if Trump’s administration orders suppliers to prioritize its purchase requests, The New York Times reports. Now, the two are drafting a contract where Pfizer would provide more doses from April to the end of June.