‘We’re in the triple-digits now.’ COVID hospitalizations climb in Fresno, as cases mount
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New COVID-19 cases climbed for a seventh consecutive week in Fresno County, a signal that the coronavirus that has inflicted illness and economic upheaval for 28 months has yet to release its grip on the region.
At least 2,400 new cases have been reported this week in the county. That’s more than eight times the week ending April 23, a low point of 296 cases in a valley between a winter surge and the current upswing in laboratory-confirmed infections.
Friday’s case update from the Fresno County Department of Public Health reflected 969 new cases. That came on top of 1,431 cases that were reported in a Tuesday update. The combined 2,400 cases easily outdistanced the total of fewer than 1,700 cases reported last week in the county.
Health officials believe the number of actual infections is likely much higher because the figures include only laboratory-confirmed positive PCR tests, and not at-home rapid tests that people can administer on their own.
“We know there’s a ton of antigen (rapid) tests that are unreported,” Dr. Rais Vohra, the county’s interim health officer, said in a media briefing Friday afternoon.
The number of new cases each week remains well below the winter peak of more than 17,000 cases in January, at the zenith of a surge of cases and at a time when hospitalizations and deaths blamed on COVID-19 were at their worst points since the global pandemic reached the central San Joaquin Valley in March 2020.
Still, health officials are concerned about the prospects for a third-straight summer in which cases surge, and what that could mean for the county’s hospitals and medical community.
Vohra said that as of Thursday, 109 people with confirmed COVID-19 cases were receiving inpatient care at hospitals across the county. That’s almost four times as many patients as a month ago on May 9.
“We’re in the triple-digits now” for numbers of hospitalized patients, Vohra noted in his briefing. “We had double-digit numbers for several months. … It reflects the wider (viral) transmission that we’re experiencing in Fresno County.”
As cases rise, so do the potential effects on medical personnel. “One complication is that our (health care) workforce gets affected as well,” Vohra said. “When we see case counts rise, that also translates into doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and others either catching it themselves or having to take care of loved ones” who get infected.
Most local hospitals, he added, are tightening up some of their already-stringent policies for visitors to protect their staff and patients, and requiring hospital staff to wear N-95 graded masks – one of the highest levels of breathing protection – while they are at work.
Through Friday, more than 240,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported among Fresno County residents since March 2020. Of those, at least 2,766 people have succumbed to the virus and the respiratory disease it causes.
The ‘reality on the ground’
Friday’s case update comes a day after the Fresno City Council voted to officially end a COVID-19 emergency order that had been in place since March 2020. At that time, in the early stages of the pandemic, Fresno was one of the first cities to declare a state of emergency and impose a shelter-in-place order for residents to prevent the spread of the virus.
At that time, Fresno County was experiencing about five new cases each week – or about two-tenths of one percent of what was reported over the past week in the county.
Thursday’s vote by the City Council also included ending a two-year moratorium on evictions of renters who were economically harmed by the pandemic, and also lifted requirements for people to wear masks inside at Fresno City Hall.
“Insofar as that proclamation may not reflect the reality on the ground, I would just remind people to pay attention to the actual data and be mindful of what’s going on in your own workspace and in your own social network,” Vohra said Friday when asked about the City council’s vote.
“That’s going to be a much better indicator of your risk than a more broad or blanket proclamation from the city or the county.”
Vohra described the incidence of new cases as “really uneven” within the community and its businesses or organizations.
“Some people are doing great, they feel healthy, (and) their organization is bringing people back to work and they’re interacting in person,” he said. “Other organizations are finding cases and having to react to that.”
“And yet other organizations and facilities are getting so many cases that they’re actually in outbreak mode and having to be very aggressive about isolating people, testing people, etc.,” Vohra added.
The inconsistency of the viral spread is one reason for people to continue to consider wearing a mask to decrease the potential for catching or transmitting COVID-19.
“Don’t hesitate to use those masks, especially if you’re going to be doing something higher risk like spending time indoors around strangers or being in a crowded place,” Vohra said.
“It’s still not a bad idea to have a mask with you and use it when taking on more risk than you feel comfortable with.”
