After reporting an unusually low number of daily COVID-related deaths in the past 72 hours, California announced 197 new coronavirus deaths on Wednesday. That’s a 20 percent jump from the previous high of 159, recorded last Friday.
State and local officials have said the figures were significantly lower recently due to delays caused by a new federal reporting process. As a result, Wednesday’s number may be a little inflated due to the results of daily tests.
That happens just two days after the governor announced in his daily press conference that the state’s Central Valley was the new main area of concern.
While the statewide 14-day average positive test rate is 7.5 percent, that rate in the Central Valley ranges from 10.7 to 17.7 percent. Essential farm, manufacturing, and prison workers have been particularly affected.
California also reported 8,755 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday. That’s slightly below the 14-day average of 9,293 daily new cases.
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The reported COVID-related hospitalization rose to 6,939 on Wednesday, an increase of 43 patients. The number of ICU coronavirus patients increased from 37 to 2,012.
The state now has 475,305 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday. Those have resulted in 8,715 deaths. The number of COVID-related deaths increased by 2.3 percent from the previous day’s total of 8,518. The number of COVID-19 diagnostic test results in California totaled 7,517,466, an increase of 99,600. The positive result rate in the last 14 days is 7.4 percent. That is slightly less than the 7.5 percent reported earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the Orange County Board of Education announced Wednesday that it decided, by a 4-0 vote, to file a lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Public Health Officer to seek a court order to overturn the orders. State schools that prevent schools from teaching in person and resuming services on campus.
The vote was held during a closed session Tuesday night, according to a statement.
Board attorneys said in a statement that the California Supreme Court interpreted the California Constitution requires that California school children have a constitutional right to have substantially equal learning opportunities, and that the governor’s order will charge unequally to the most disadvantaged families in California.
City News Service contributed to this report.
