Fresno-area COVID hospitalizations reach lowest level in months. See the latest data
The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 across the central San Joaquin Valley is at its lowest point in 11 months, when the region was still in the relatively early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospitals in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties held a total of 140 patients with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the state Department of Public Health reported. That’s fewer than any day since May 8, when 131 people were being treated in hospitals for symptoms of coronavirus disease.
Thursday’s hospital load included 115 patients for whom tests confirmed COVID-19, as well as 25 suspected cases for whom test results had not yet returned.
In Fresno County on Thursday, hospitals were providing inpatient care to 80 confirmed coronavirus patients and 11 suspected cases. That’s the lowest number of confirmed cases requiring hospitalization in the county, as well as confirmed plus suspected cases, since late September.
The declining number of hospitalizations for coronavirus remains a welcome relief for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who during the peak of a winter surge in December and January were in danger of being overwhelmed. Hospitals in Fresno County had an average of 600 or more in inpatient care, and more than 1,000 across the six-county region.
Friday case updates
Fifty-five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday by the Fresno County Department of Pubilc Health, pushing to 100,431 the number of people who have been infected with coronavirus at some point over the past 13 months, whether they felt symptoms or not.
County health officials also acknowledged two additional deaths, pushing the number of lives lost in the pandemic to 1,642 since March 2020.
Since the first coronavirus vaccines became available in mid-December, almost 220,000 Fresno County residents have been “fully vaccinated” for COVID-19, either with both shots of the two-dose vaccines by Pfizer or Moderna, or a single dose of the one-shot Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In neighboring Valley counties, Friday updates included:
Kings County: 18 new cases, 22,756 to date; no additional deaths, 245 to date. More than 7,200 of the infections, and 18 deaths, have been among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran. More than 21,300 Kings County residents are now fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Madera County: 20 new cases, 16,156 to date; no additional deaths.. The number of fully vaccinated residents is almost 31,000.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 419 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date. More than 2,100 Mariposa County residents are fully vaccinated.
Merced County: 45 new cases, 31,196 to date; no additional deaths, 452 to date. More than 47,000 residents are fully vaccinated.
Tulare County: 28 new cases, 49,383 to date; two additional deaths, 829 to date. The number of Tulare County residents who are fully vaccinated stands at more than 93,400.
Across the six-county region, more than 220,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported among residents since March 2020. Of those, 3,414 have died.
