For the third time in the past week, California set a new record for daily deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, saving few corners of the state.
Six counties reported at least 10 deaths, including 51 in Los Angeles, while two others reported their highest number in a single day on the state road to 164 deaths on Tuesday, according to data compiled by this news organization. That seven-day average rose more than it ever has, 119 deaths per day over the past week, even as the number of new cases has stagnated around 9,215 per day, with another 10,006 reported on Tuesday.
The state previously set a daily record with 155 deaths last Wednesday, then broke that mark the next day with 156 deaths.
The cumulative death toll from California, which topped Massachusetts for third place in the nation on Monday, rose to 8,708, while its cumulative case count was 473,333 after Tuesday’s report, the most in the nation. However, per capita, California does not rank in the top 25 in deaths or in the top 20 in number of cases.
California is averaging 25% more deaths each day than two weeks ago (119 per day vs. 94), despite the average number of new cases remaining within four percentage points of where it was two weeks ago (9,215 per day vs. 8,860) At that time, hospital admissions have also stabilized across the state, an increase of about 2% from July 13 to 6,896 patients on Monday.
California appears to have flattened a curve that had grown rapidly, but has not crushed it.
Although those numbers are relatively flat for two weeks, they are still significantly higher than they were six weeks ago, around the time the current peak began. Since then, the number of hospitalized patients has currently increased 107%; the average number of daily cases increased 210%; and the daily death toll has doubled.
From Yolo in northern California to Imperial on the Mexican border, 23 of California’s 58 counties reported at least one death Tuesday.
The six counties with double-digit death tolls on Tuesday represented the most individual counties with at least 10 deaths in a single day since the pandemic began, according to analysis by this news organization. Central Valley jurisdictions, such as San Joaquin and Kern counties, reported 15 and 12 deaths, respectively, while Orange County, just south of Los Angeles, also reported 15 deaths. In the Inland Empire, San Bernardino County reported 11 deaths, the second highest in a single day.
Combined into one jurisdiction, the Bay Area would have been ranked seventh in deaths reported Tuesday, with nine spread across its nine counties. Contra Costa County added four to its death toll, followed by three in Alameda County. Santa Clara and San Mateo counties also reported one death each on Tuesday.
While Tuesday’s deaths spread across the state, different regions are experiencing different stages of the pandemic.
The Bay Area has only been surpassed in virus containment by the sparsely populated counties north of it. Los Angeles and its neighboring counties have been handling more significant outbreaks since spring with little respite. Meanwhile, the Central Valley, which avoided a significant extension throughout April, May, and June, had become the state’s new epicenter by the end of July, where cases are increasing faster per capita.
Los Angeles County averaged 36.9 new cases per 100,000 residents each day, but has been outpaced by counties in the San Joaquin Valley, where the rate has skyrocketed to 54.8 new cases per 100,000 residents per day. While the rate has dropped by a third in Los Angeles from its peak about two weeks ago, in those eight San Joaquin Valley counties, it has increased 83% at the time.
Those eight counties also combined to report 40% more deaths on Tuesday than on any previous day of the pandemic, approximately three weeks after cases began to escalate in the region.
So while California’s case numbers remain stable, it serves as a reminder that COVID-19 does not exist as a single outbreak in a country or state, but rather many different regional battles with the same disease.
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