California’s 14-day average of new daily coronavirus cases has broken 8,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. In comparison, a month ago that average was 2,704. That’s a 295 percent increase in 30 days.
The increase is the result of a sharp increase in cases and what have now become regular spikes, almost record in the past 10 days. On July 7, the state saw a record high of 11,694 new cases. That was followed by peaks of 11,126 on 7/14 and 8,544 today.
COVID-related deaths in California are also on the rise. Thursday’s new death toll, 118, is the third-highest total California has seen since the virus hit the state. The two highest results came last week, with 140 yesterday and the all-time high recorded last Thursday with 149 lives lost. The previous peak had been 115 deaths.
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California now has 356,178 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 7,345 deaths. The number of COVID-19 diagnostic test results in California totaled 5,915,508, an increase of 122,232 tests in the past 24 hours. The positive result rate in the last 14 days is 7.2 percent. California hospitalizations for COVID-19 decreased by 9 since Tuesday.
That last one is good news, as Los Angeles County reported a record number of hospitalizations on Monday.
Also Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered all counties to close their restaurants, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, wineries and zoos 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 shopping malls. Affected counties adjacent to LA include Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Diego, Orange, and virtually all other southern California counties.
The Los Angeles County public health director said Wednesday that “nothing is off the table” in terms of closings, while Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that the COVID-19 threat gauge of the city is “on the edge of red”. “The highest level, which would mean a complete closure of LA
