September’s grim legacy: Fresno, Valley reach deadly COVID milestone in latest data
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Health officials in Fresno County and across the central San Joaquin Valley reported more deaths from COVID-19 in September than at any point since last winter’s deadly surge in the region.
As of Thursday, the Fresno County Department of Public Health acknowledged 167 deaths attributed on official county death certificates to the coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes. Seven additional fatalities were reported on Friday, the first day of October, but occurred earlier.
In the six-county region encompassing Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties, at least 301 deaths were reported in September, along with 17 more acknowledged on Oct. 1 but occurring prior to that date.
The fatalities in both Fresno County and Valleywide are the largest monthly totals since February, and rank September as the fourth deadliest month of the pandemic in Fresno County and fifth deadliest in the six-county region since the first cases were confirmed in early March 2020.
Over the past 19 months, more than 128,400 people in Fresno County have been laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19; of those, 1,964 residents have died. Valleywide, almost 283,000 people have contracted the virus at some point since March 2020. On Friday, the region’s death toll surpassed 4,000, reaching 4,010.
October could be just as deadly
Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer for the Fresno County Department of Public Health, said Friday that he believes October has the potential to be an even deadlier month than September for COVID-19.
“Unfortunately, that number is going to continue to climb, and it may be as bad in October as it was in September,” Vohra said. He added that fatalities are a lagging indicator compared to new infections and hospitalizations, “and the death numbers mount as those other numbers are falling.”
Throughout the month of September, the average number of COVID-19 patients in intensive-care units in Fresno County hospitals ranged between 70 and 90 per day, many of them requiring lengthy hospital stays. As of Thursday, about 60 coronavirus patients were in ICUs across the county.
“These are very sick people, and many of them are on life support,” Vohra said. “And unfortunately, some of them may succumb to their COVID infections.”
Explore the animated, interactive collection of charts below to see the latest data on the pandemic and its effects in Fresno County and the Valley.
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 2:55 PM.
