Without fanfare, or one of Governor Gavin Newsom’s regular press conferences, California quietly released the news that 11,126 new confirmed cases of coronavirus had been reported on Wednesday. That’s the second-highest total of new cases since the pandemic began, overshadowed only by the 11,694 new cases reported last Tuesday. But last week’s record was completed by numbers of delayed tests. There is little indication that such delays are included in Wednesday’s issue.
The new highs are more than five times the total of new cases reported a month ago, on June 15. That number was 2,108.
The total number of deaths is 7,227, an increase of 140. That increase is the second-highest daily COVID-related death count ever seen in the state, not far behind the all-time high reported last Thursday with 149 lives lost in the past 24 hours. The maximum prior to those two peaks had been 115 deaths.
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The alarming trend in numbers underscores the severity of the crisis in the state.
Moments later, Los Angeles County Health Department Director Barbara Ferrer announced that the 7-day moving average over the region’s test positivity rate is up to 9.8 percent. That compares with 9 percent yesterday.
“We are in an alarming place,” said Ferrer. She went on to say that there was now an “7-day average of 2,859 new cases per day. Double where it was in June.
The day after the county reported a record number of hospitalizations, Ferrer said, “We now see a 3-day average of more than 2,000 people hospitalized for COVID-19, more than at any other time since the pandemic began.” As a result, health officials indicated that the number of beds in the ICU may be inadequate. Hospital officials are implementing disaster orders to try to increase staff.
“Keeping business open is only possible if we can curb the spread,” said Ferrer. Business owners and operators, he continued, “have a moral corporate responsibility to keep employees healthy.”
When asked about a renewed order for Safer-At-Home, Ferrer said: “We cannot remove anything from the table. We have to do everything possible to protect the health care system. Do we want to return to a safer home order? Absolutely not.”
However, trends seem to have led LA in that direction.
On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered all counties to close their restaurants, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, wineries, zoos, and bars for indoor service. The bars were ordered to close entirely.
Additionally, LA and 31 other counties on the state’s watch list must close gyms, houses of worship, nail and nail salons, and closed shopping malls. Other local LA counties affected include Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Diego, Orange, and virtually all other Southern California counties.
California now has 347,634 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The number of COVID-related deaths increased 2.0 percent from the previous day’s total of 7,087. The number of COVID-19 diagnostic test results in California totaled 5,793,276, an increase of 118,321 tests. The positive result rate in the last 14 days is 7.2 percent.
