As California emerges from COVID pandemic, Fresno County can’t escape. Why not?
Over the last six months I’ve made occasional visits to Sausalito, the picturesque town on San Francisco Bay where my sister lives on a houseboat.
Sausalito is in Marin County, which boasts the highest vaccination rates of any California county. Marin County residents are 78.2 percent fully immunized (83.2% partially) and also take mask-wearing seriously. While at the supermarket or strolling through downtown, it’s rare to see a bare adult face.
As it happens, the rate of new COVID-19 cases in Marin County is very low right now — nearly six times lower than Fresno County’s when adjusted for population. So are the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. As a result, officials this week lifted a mandate (in place since the summer Delta surge) requiring face coverings at indoor businesses.
Marin County residents, along with those in many Bay Area and Southern California counties, are through the worst of the pandemic. Their hospitals and emergency rooms aren’t stuffed with sick patients. People aren’t dying at alarming rates. Life in those places can safely return to normal.
It kind of feels like life in Fresno and the central San Joaquin Valley has returned to normal as well. Mass gatherings and events have resumed. Fewer people are wearing masks in public, even while shopping indoors.
Except, that is, for one difficult truth: As the holidays approach, the pandemic hasn’t gone away and shows little sign of abating. Those who’ve resumed their normal activities and habits are either unconcerned or simply choose to ignore the reality.
“The hospitals in our region have never really left the crisis,” said Dan Lynch, Fresno County’s director of emergency services.
“While the rest of the state is trending down, we are either staying steady or trending up slightly, and it’s really impacted operations at our hospitals.”
Fresno County currently has 325 people hospitalized with COVID-19, a number Interim Public Health Officer Rais Vohra emphasized was “not a typo” during Friday’s media briefing.
Those 325 hospitalizations (the “vast majority” aren’t vaccinated, according to Vohra) are the second-most of any California county even though Fresno County ranks 10th in population.
Let me repeat that: Fresno County is 10th in population and second in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
‘No relief’ for Fresno-area hospitals
Our reward? County officials this week re-instituted an “access and refer” policy for emergency medical services that was only recently rescinded. Meaning some sick or injured people who would normally get transported to a hospital or urgent-care clinic will be told, “Sorry, you’re out of luck.”
All area hospitals are either full or over capacity, according to Lynch, and most have already expanded to all the areas they have available. Staffing continues to be a challenge as county officials plead to their state counterparts for outside doctors and nurses.
“Our hospitals have not left the surge,” Lynch added. “They continue to fight against the surge, and there’s been no relief.”
Why is Fresno County stuck in this worrisome position?
Vaccination rates are the simplest answer. Statewide, 62.5 percent of all California residents are fully vaccinated while 68.9 percent have received at least one dose. In Fresno County, the numbers are 53.5 percent fully immunized and 60 percent partially — nearly 10 percent below the statewide average.
By no coincidence whatsoever, California counties with the highest percentages of vaccinated residents also enjoy the lowest rates of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. While the ones with the lowest immunization numbers remain in the pandemic’s grip.
Yes, people who are fully vaccinated can also spread the virus. But vaccinated individuals who get sick are much less likely to require hospitalization and further strain our healthcare system.
Why do vaccination rates in Fresno County lag behind those in the Bay Area and Southern California? The short answer is poverty. Lots of it.
Healthier ZIP codes, higher vaccine rates
Even within the Fresno metro area including Clovis, vaccination rates correlate more closely with poverty and race than any other factors. Put simply: ZIP codes where residents have higher incomes and education levels, more parks and better access to health care and transportation have more vaccinated individuals than those that don’t.
With nearly 70% of Fresno County’s population living in ZIP codes assigned to the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index, vaccinating residents in those areas remains an uphill fight for health officials and community based organizations.
Take, for example, the 93706 area code encompassing southwest Fresno. Less than half its 41,783 residents are even partially vaccinated, according to the county dashboard.
“That’s the challenge we have,” Health Division Manager Joe Prado said. “Poverty is immobility. People only see what’s around them. Which is why neighborhoods matter.”
Neighborhoods matter, but so do community standards.
To celebrate my birthday last month, my sister and I drove to Oakland to see one of my favorite bands perform. Wilco was my first live performance and large-scale indoor event since all of this started.
Before we could enter, security checked our proof of vaccinations as well as our IDs. And once we got inside the theater, most of the concert-goers (I’d estimate 80 percent) kept their noses and mouths covered.
Contrast that experience to the one recently chronicled by former Bee arts writer Donald Munro on his blog. Security at the Saroyan Theater barely glanced at his vaccination card before the opening performance of “CATS,” failed to check his ID and didn’t enforce the theater’s masking policy.
Just one more reason why other regions of California are emerging from the pandemic while Fresno can’t escape.
This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
