Fresno hospital ICUs stressed as seriously ill COVID-19 patients increase 25% in a day
Intensive-care units at hospitals across Fresno County saw the number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in their beds leap by more than 25% in a single day.
The latest development is adding to concerns among local health officials about coronavirus cases potentiallyoutstripping the resources needed to care for those patients.
COVID-19 patients in ICUs lurched from 74 on Tuesday to 95 on Wednesday — an increase of 21 patients or more than 28%.
Hospitals in Fresno County collectively have 149 licensed adult ICU beds. But data released by the state Thursday showed that between coronavirus patients and those requiring high-level treatment for other illnesses or conditions, the county had only eight beds available to accommodate new patients.
Two weeks ago, ICUs in Fresno County were caring for 39 confirmed coronavirus patients.
The continuing upswing in intensive-care patients corresponds to an overall increase in the number of people hospitalized for treatment of the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
On Wednesday, the total number of COVID-19 patients in hospital care in Fresno County – between intensive-care units and general medical beds – climbed to 460, a new high-water mark to date since the first local cases were confirmed in early March.
Throughout the greater Fresno region, including neighboring Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties, ICUs were caring for 133 confirmed coronavirus patients Wednesday, as well as four additional patients with symptoms, but for whom test results had not yet confirmed the disease.
The overall hospital census of COVID-19 patients in the six-county area reached 743 confirmed patients on Wednesday, plus almost 60 additional patients with suspected coronavirus cases.
Across the broader San Joaquin Valley health care region, encompassing 12 counties from San Joaquin County in the north to Kern County in the south, the state Department of Public Health estimated that fewer than 2% of ICU beds were available to care for new patients, whether those people have COVID-19 or some other serious illness or injury.
Increase in coronavirus cases
Since Dec. 1, state and county officials report that almost 3,400 Fresno County residents have tested positive for the coronavirus. That includes 380 new infections reported Thursday by the state Department of Public Health.
Almost 42,000 people in Fresno County have had the virus – whether they experienced symptoms or not – since March 6, when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the county. Of those, 514 have died, according to the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
Around the Valley, other Thursday updates from neighboring counties included:
Kings County: 197 new cases, 12,716 to date; no additional deaths, 97 to date. Almost 6,200 of Kings County’s cases, and 12 deaths, have been among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 217 new cases, 7,466 to date; no additional deaths, 107 to date.
Mariposa County: Four new cases, 171 to date; no additional deaths, four to date.
Merced County: 252 new cases, 14,310 to date; one additional death, 202 to date.
Tulare County: 385 new cases, 24,624 to date; three additional deaths, 326 to date.
For the pandemic to date, the six counties have amassed a combined 101,243 confirmed COVID-19 infections among their residents, including 1,250 deaths blamed on the virus.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 3:13 PM.
