Less Than 10% of Fresno County's ICU Beds Needed So Far During COVID-19 Pandemic

It was a sobering statistic, but in a good way.
The Fresno County Health Department announced Monday afternoon that 14 COVID-19 patients are in ICU beds.

Total Number of ICU Beds in Fresno County

Earlier this month, Dr. Rais Vohra, Interim Health Officer for the Fresno County Department of Public Health was asked how many total intensive care beds are available in the county. He said, “The ICU bed number is is on the order of just around 150. When you add up all of the different available beds, the ICU’s have and the hospitals have done a really marvelous job because they’ve, they’ve actually thought hard about how they can expand capacity within their own facilities.”

Beds Used by COVID-19 Patients

Monday afternoon during a teleconference with reporters, Dr. Vohra stated how many COVID-19 patients are currently using ICU beds. “So currently there’s 31 hospitalized patients in Fresno County, and 14 are in the ICU,” said Vohra.
This means the county still has roughly 135 ICU beds available for future COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Vohra doesn’t believe Fresno County has hit peak levels of the virus yet. He says the local area is lagging about two weeks behind some of the larger cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

ICU Beds in California

California Healthline published an analysis of ICU beds across the country.
“Within California, San Francisco County, with one bed for every 532 older residents, and Los Angeles County, with 847 residents per bed, both have greater bed availability than does Santa Cruz with one bed for every 2,601 older residents,” the report said. “In California, 11 of 58 counties lack a single ICU bed.”
California Healthline’s interactive map shows the following number if ICU beds available in these counties:

Fresno County: 164
Merced County: 24
Madera County: 10
Kings County: 22
Tulare County: 51
Mariposa County: 0

Related Story: Fresno County Has 100 to 150 Ventilators. Is That Enough After Third Death?

Newsom Encouraged by Drop in ICU Placements

California saw its first daily decrease in intensive care hospitalizations during the coronavirus outbreak last week, a key indicator of how many health care workers and medical supplies the state needs, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.
“I caution anybody to not read too much into that,” Newsom said of the decline in ICU hospitalizations. “But nonetheless, it is encouraging. It reinforces the incredible work all of you are doing.”

Related Story: Newsom Encouraged by Drop in ICU Placements

As of April 12, the California Department of Public Health website listed 1,178 COVID-19 cases in ICU beds statewide. Another 374 patients suspected COVID-19 patients were also in ICU beds.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)