'Please send more vaccines': Covid crisis engulfs California's farming heartland
California officials have signaled optimism that the latest, most deadly wave of the pandemic is starting to abate as the most populous US state doles out vaccinations. But healthcare workers in Fresno county said their emergency rooms and intensive care departments are still inundated with patients.
“Sure, if your hospital goes from 200% capacity to 150%, of course they’ll say it’s looking better,” said Amy Arlund, an ICU nurse at the Kaiser Fresno hospital. “But in my entire 20-year career, I’ve not seen this many people, this sick.”
Situated in the heart of California’s Central Valley, Fresno county has been overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals in the region are still running short of ICU beds, medical staff and equipment. And the county is running critically short on vaccines – quashing hopes for a quick respite. Most affected are the tens of thousands of agricultural workers in the region, who have been toiling through the pandemic to supply what amounts to a quarter of the US food supply.
About one in every 11 people in Fresno have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, and even as hospital admissions begin to slow, the county of about 999,000 people is recording about 450 new cases per day.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/please-send-more-vaccines-covid-crisis-engulfs-californias-farming-heartland/ar-BB1dnYWX?li=BBnb7Kz
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