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Coronavirus: California shatters daily case record with more than 20,000

Counties in every corner of California set records on their way to the state’s highest daily case count of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to this news organization’s analysis of health department data.

Altogether, there were 20,554 new coronavirus cases reported around California on Monday alone, shattering the previous single-day record of 16,521, which came following the July 4 weekend and included a significant backlog; Monday’s total includes up to three days worth of data for some counties that do not issue updates over the weekend.

The record-smashing total Monday brought the daily average to a new high, 12,442 cases per day over the past week, doubling in the span of 12 days and up about 41% in the past week.

A dozen counties, from Siskiyou on the Oregon border to Imperial touching Mexico, reported more cases on Monday than any previous day of the pandemic, and numerous others reported more than any day since August, the tail end of this summer’s surge.

In the Bay Area, Solano County reported a record 396 new cases, while Santa Clara County recorded its third-highest daily total of the pandemic with 427 new cases reported Monday. In total, there were 1,868 new cases reported around the region Monday — its highest single-day total of the pandemic — while the average over the past week climbed to about 1,290, or about 16.1 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, 51% higher than two weeks ago.

In Los Angeles County, the most populous in the nation with some 10 million people, there were 6,116 new cases reported Monday — higher than all but one previous day of the pandemic, which included a significant backlog. That pushed the daily average over 4,000, or about 40.3 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, for the first time of the pandemic, forcing additional restrictions in the county.

Elsewhere in Southern California, Orange County reported a record 1,422 new cases, and its daily average has doubled in the span of 10 days to more than 787 per day, or about 24.8 per 100,000 residents. In neighboring San Diego County, the daily average has doubled in about 12 days and climbed to a new high Monday — more than 1,000 new cases per day, or about 30.5 per 100,000 residents — after it reported another 1,167 new cases, just shy of the daily record it set Saturday.

Just north of Los Angeles, Ventura County reported a record 610 new cases Monday and is averaging more new daily cases than any other points of the pandemic, about 29.1 per 100,000 residents, doubling in less than two weeks.

On the Mexican border, Imperial County, a largely agricultural community of about 180,000 that was among the hardest-hit areas of California in the spring, reported 537 new cases Monday, more than any previous day of the pandemic, though its daily average remained shy of where it was in the spring. Intensive care units in the county also appear to be teetering at capacity, according to CDPH, which reports 16 patients intubated and two free beds.

In the Sierra Nevadas, there were daily records set in Yuba, Sutter, Lassen, Nevada and Placer counties. Altogether, the five bordering communities, with a combined population of about 700,000, reported triple the number of cases in the past week than they did two weeks ago, with an average of more than 325 per day, or about 46.3 per 100,000 residents.

In Northern California, Siskiyou and Humboldt counties also set daily records, with 70 and 54 new cases, respectively.

Sacramento County also reported a record number of new cases Monday — 1,321 — while a number of counties to the south, in the San Joaquin Valley, saw their highest totals since the summer surge, which brought the highest per-capita infection rates in the state. Kern, Fresno, Merced and Madera counties all reported their most cases since August. Altogether, the eight-county San Joaquin Valley is reporting twice as many daily cases as it was two weeks ago — about 31.8 per 100,000 residents — but it remains at nearly half the rate of this summer.

Health officials have warned that a new wave of infections would likely result in a corresponding surge in hospitalizations, followed by more lives lost to the virus.

More Californians are hospitalized with COVID-19 than any point since Aug. 11, according to the latest data from the California Department of Public Health. With 5,459 currently receiving care, the active total has doubled in the span of about two and a half weeks but has risen even more rapidly recently — up 41% in the past week.

There were also more deaths reported in the past week — 462, or an average of 66 per day — than any other seven-day period since Oct. 1-7. The cumulative death toll in California grew to 18,766, after another 43 fatalities were reported Monday.


Source: Orange County Register

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