Fresno County’s total coronavirus cases since start of pandemic surpass 14,000
The number of confirmed and suspected coronavirus patients being treated in hospitals has dipped over the past week, according to the state Department of Public Health.
But severely ill patients with COVID-19 continue to occupy about 47% of the licensed intensive-care unit beds in hospitals across the county. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients across all levels inhabit about one out of four beds that are licensed for acute medical and intensive-care needs.
The number of confirmed infections to date in Fresno County, since the pandemic began, now exceeds 14,000, including 120 deaths.
The state Department of Public Health reported that as of Wednesday, a total of 292 confirmed COVID-19 patients, as well as 36 additional people suspected of being infected with the virus, were hospitalized in Fresno County. That includes 67 confirmed cases in ICUs, plus three intensive-care patients for whom test results had not yet confirmed the infection.
Under normal circumstances, hospitals in Fresno County have a total of 1,229 licensed general acute-care beds plus 149 licensed intensive-care beds, according to the health department’s Electronic Licensing Management System.
But given the influx of COVID-19 patients, in addition to the burden of patients hospitalized for accidents, trauma, surgeries and other serious illnesses, the state is granting many hospitals additional flexibility and surge capacity to press into service beds typically used for other purposes in different departments.
Across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, Kings and Tulare counties, 616 people were in hospitals for coronavirus disease on Wednesday, including 563 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Those confirmed cases include 115 intensive-care patients.
Thursday brought reports of more than 600 new confirmed COVID-19 infections across the central San Joaquin Valley, as a result of testing. That brings the total number of people who have contracted the virus, whether they showed symptoms of illness or not, to more than 33,700 in the six-county central San Joaquin Valley region since the first local cases in the global pandemic were reported in early March.
Thursday’s updated case counts included 379 new cases in Fresno County as of Wednesday night. The county’s health department only provides updates to its figures on Tuesdays and Fridays, and relies on data from the state Department of Health Services on the other days of the week.
Around the Valley
Elsewhere in the central San Joaquin Valley, updates Thursday included:
Tulare County: 165 new cases, 9.241 to date; no new deaths, 173 to date; 2,710 active cases, 6,358 recovered.
Mariposa County: Two new cases, 53 to date; no new deaths, two to date; seven active cases, 44 recovered.
Madera County: 36 new cases, 1,886 to date; no new deaths, 28 to date; 835 active cases, 1,023 recovered.
Merced County: 159 new cases, raising Merced County’s caseload since the pandemic began to 4,065; four new deaths, raising total deaths to 39 to date; 1,752 active cases, 2,274 recovered.
Kings County: 40 new cases, 4,146 to date; three additional deaths, 54 to date; 1,584 active cases, 2,508 recovered. The count includes 1,423 cases associated with state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 5:33 PM.
