‘Please send more vaccines’: Covid crisis engulfs California’s farming heartland

Fresno county, a region in the state's central valley made up of 999,000 people, is recording 450 new coronavirus cases per day

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."