Photo: Elias Funez Amid rising numbers of new COVID-19 cases reported in the county, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital has seen an increased number of patients with the virus, according to the hospital’s president and CEO, Dr. Brian Evans. “What has happened throughout the pandemic is that an individual hospital like this will kind of fluctuate … so it’s a little easier to spot the trends when you start to spread out and look at multiple hospitals or a whole region,” said Evans on tracking the trend. Evans said Monday that, as has been the case at other hospitals that Sierra Nevada Memorial partners with in the region, an increase in emergency room visits and hospital admissions related to COVID-19 had become notable during the preceding one to two weeks.