Hospital ICUs in Fresno, Valley on thin ice as COVID-19 overwhelms medical facilities
Hospitals in Fresno and across the central San Joaquin Valley are already confronting their usual wintertime increase in patients requiring treatment in intensive-care units for flu and pneumonia, as well as serious circumstances like strokes, heart attacks and trauma.
But an ongoing increase in the number of new coronavirus patients is adding to that demand, and putting hospitals and their ICU staffs on thin ice when it comes to their capacity to handle additional patients, regardless of whether they have COVID-19.
Hospitals across Fresno County had a total of just nine ICU beds available Tuesday for seriously ill or injured patients, according to the California Department of Public Health. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 accounted for 61 ICU patients, in addition to three suspected coronavirus cases yet to be confirmed through testing.
Fresno County hospitals have a total licensed ICU capacity of 149 beds, according to state data. But the number of actual beds available depends on whether there is a sufficient number of nurses, technicians and doctors to care for that many patients. It also depends on adjustments hospitals can make within their walls to create additional surge capacity if needed.
In Merced County, two licensed hospitals – one in Merced, the other in Los Banos, held 29 COVID-19 patients, including 12 in ICUs. Together, however, the facilities were down to a single ICU bed that was available Tuesday for a new patient, according to the state.
Valleywide, hospitals were treating 97 confirmed seriously ill coronavirus patients in intensive-care units Tuesday, as well as four more suspected cases.
Total remaining ICU capacity in the region was 56 beds. Hospitals across the region have a total of 312 licensed ICU beds, but as in Fresno County that number is subject to change based on staffing and surge adjustments.
Around the Valley
Tuesday’s coronavirus updates from central San Joaquin Valley counties include:
Fresno County: 292 new cases Tuesday, 39,004 to date; no additional deaths, 488 to date. Fresno County updates fatalities only on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Kings County: 121 new cases, 11,555 to date; no additional deaths, 89 to date. Kings County includes almost 5,660 cases among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 81 new cases, 6,427 to date; no additional deaths, 86 to date.
Mariposa County: Two new cases; 144 to date; no additional deaths, three to date. The county reduced its total case count by one because of a duplication on Tuesday.
Merced County: 146 new cases, 12, 427 to date; three additional deaths, 185 to date.
Tulare County: 446 new cases, 21,778 to date; three new deaths, 314 to date.
Across the six-county region, more than 91,300 people have tested positive for infection from COVID-19 since the first local cases surfaced in early March. Of that number, 1,165 deaths have been attributed to the virus.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 5:33 PM.
