SAN FRANCISCO – California shows improvement in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Govin Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, citing a significantly lower number of confirmed new cases as the state begins to recover cases from a data error.
The Democratic governor said he was also encouraged by a declining trend in state hospitalization rates he noted 21% down, and ICU admissions, 15% down in the past 14 days. The number of newly confirmed cases Wednesday 5,433 was “another indication that we are turning the corner on this pandemic,” he said.
The latest figures represent a significant drop from the record 12,807 new daily cases reported statewide during the spike in infections last month.
More than 10,600 people statewide have died, including 180 reported Wednesday, with the vast majority in Los Angeles County.
Dr. Roger Lewis, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said there had been “a clear decline” in hospitalizations, meaning that rates of transfer began to slow two to three weeks ago. Daily said cases are back where they were in May.
“The consistent downtrend in new cases requiring hospitalization and the slight decline in transfer rate is good news,” he said. “This is how progress looks when we work together.”
State officials are still working on processing the nearly 300,000 test results for coronavirus tests lost due to a data error. The state relies on temporary statistics to determine whether schools and businesses can reopen. Newsom said it will still take a few days before officials can assess the overall rate of infection.
The number of infections is thought to be higher because many people are not infected, and studies suggest that people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that resolve in two to three weeks. For some – especially older adults and people with pre-existing health problems – it can cause serious illness, including pneumonia, and death.
While the spread of the virus appeared to be slow, the economic effects are still raging. The state has processed more than 9.7 million claims for unemployment insurance since the pandemic began.
The state stopped probation and expulsion in April because of the pandemic. But the California Judicial Council will vote Thursday to restore those Sept. 1 proceedings. Newsom said Wednesday that the timing gives lawmakers a chance to pass a law that will continue to protect eviction in 2021.
New laws generally do not take effect until January 1, unless legislators can adopt a two-thirds vote to grant an “emergency clause” to take effect immediately.
Newsom said he works with Democratic lawmakers and “we have a path that we believe will put in place something that would work very nicely.”
He also said he intends to move more cautiously into reopening companies that were forced to close for a second time in the summer gains. He said a task force is being set up to advise him on the economy working on public education campaigns and enforcement strategies that the state can use if businesses are allowed to resume.
Meanwhile, a prison staff member has died and nearly 100 inmates in the Folsom State Prison have tested positive for the coronavirus in the latest outbreak to hit the correctional system in California.
The California Prison Industry Authority announced Tuesday that an employee who worked at the prison has died from possible complications related to COVID-19.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it has sent a medical team to respond to the outbreak at the prison north of Sacramento. Since mid-July, it has set up tents for quarantined patients and a facility to screen potentially infected people.
Nearly 2,500 residents are being held in the Folsom prison.
The worst outbreak to date has been in the San Quentin State Prison, where 25 people died and more than 2,200 inmates contracted the coronavirus. Over the weekend, correctional officers confirmed the first death of San Quentin prison guard to coronavirus.
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Associated Press writers Adam Beam and Don Thompson in Sacramento and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
