Fresno County hospitals ‘fragile’ as doctors see shortage of drugs, beds amid COVID-19
Hospitals in Fresno County are struggling with their capacity as doctors worry about the shortage of drugs that have been effective in treating the coronavirus, health officials said Monday.
As of Sunday evening, the most recent data available from the California Department of Public Health, Fresno County had 269 confirmed COVID-19 patients being treated in local hospitals. That includes 50 patients in intensive-care units.
The number of confirmed patients compares to 203 a week ago, and 140 patients two weeks ago.
Between confirmed cases and suspected patients — those who show symptoms of the coronavirus disease but were not yet confirmed through testing — the total COVID-19 caseload at hospitals on Sunday was 307 — an 88.3% increase over the past two weeks.
Fresno Emergency Medical Services Director Dan Lynch described the state of hospitals in Fresno County, saying they were “fragile, but they seem to be stable” dealing with the surging COVID-19 cases.
“The hospitals are extremely busy. They are full,” Lynch said. “They are sustaining, however.”
Hospitals in Fresno have a collective 1,229 licensed general acute-care beds, plus 149 licensed ICU beds.
In the six county central San Joaquin Valley region, confirmed COVID-19 patients numbered 564 on Sunday, including 85 in ICUs in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties.
Alternate care sites
Fresno Convention Center has been designated as an alternate care site, but Lynch said officials don’t want to open it until it is necessary. The site takes a considerable amount of resources to operate. “When the storm gets a little bigger, we’re going to need it,” he said.
Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties have been using the Porterville Developmental Center as an alternate site, which has accepted about 60 patients, according to health officials. Nineteen are there as of Monday.
Respirators and drugs
Health officials said on Monday that Fresno County has done well in maintaining respirators, but the county has a limited amount of remdesivir. The drug has been useful, according to Rais Vohra, the Fresno County interim health officer.
“Anecdotally, what my ICU colleagues are saying is that the remdesivir is actually keeping patients from having to use the ventilator, which is great news to hear,” he said. “The bad news is the remdesivir is running short as well.”
Coronavirus patients who are put on a respirator often have to use the machine for several weeks, locking up the machine from others who need it, according to health officials.
“My colleagues are understandably concerned about the numbers they are seeing and how many patients are requiring remdesivir to prevent being ventilated,” Vohra said.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
