Fresno-area COVID hospitalizations up six times in two months. How severe are the cases?

Two months ago, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Fresno County and neighboring Valley counties was the lowest it had been since the early days of the pandemic in the region in April 2020.

Since that time, however, the volume of patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases receiving inpatient care at hospitals in Fresno and surrounding counties has steadily climbed.

During the week of May 8, Fresno County hospitals held as few as 30 COVID-19 patients. Earlier this week, on July 5 the count had ballooned to 180, or six times as many patients who were sick enough to require hospital care a month ago .

The hospitalization figures were reported by the California Department of Public Health.

Collectively across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties, hospitals Valleywide had 259 inpatient COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, compared to 51 during the week of May 8. That’s an increase of more than five times.

The increases generally correspond to a marked rise in new coronavirus cases across the region since late April – almost a tenfold increase in Fresno County from fewer than 300 for the week ending April 23 to more than 2,800 last week.

Valleywide, almost 5,400 new COVID-19 cases were reported last week, almost five times more than the 1,080 cases for the week ending April 23.

Deaths from the virus, however, have declined each month since February, both Valleywide and in Fresno County.

Health officials have attributed the decreasing frequency of fatalities to vaccinations and boosters that have reduced the severity of cases for people who do get sick, and a growing array of effective treatments that are available to patients who test positive.

The most recent update of cases and deaths from state health officials for Fresno, Merced and Tulare counties came on Tuesday. As of that date, a total of at least 249,480 people in Fresno County had contracted COVID-19 since the earliest cases were reported in March 2020.

That figure represents cases confirmed by laboratory testing. Local health leaders believe the actual number is likely far higher because many people have tested positive for the virus using free at-home antigen rapid tests, which are not included among the official case counts maintained by the California Department of Public Health. The state is only providing its updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Valleywide, the official counts stand at almost 526,000 lab-confirmed cases, including figures reported Wednesday and Thursday by health departments in Kings, Madera and Mariposa counties.

To date, at least 5,984 deaths across the six-county region have been blamed blamed over the past 28 months on the coronavirus and the respiratory disease it cases. Of those, 2,786 have been among Fresno County residents.