UPDATED with latest: Friday was by far the deadliest day of the California pandemic. On Wednesday, California had a frightening new high of 432 deaths related to Covid. The number on Thursday dropped slightly to 428. On Friday, the number of recorded lives lost by the virus rose to 585. This is a 37% increase in one day.
Some deaths were due to a backlog in data due to an Internet outage in the LA area and the holidays, but the asterisk is applicable every day this week. In comparison, the 7-day average deaths on Wednesday were 239.
According to its data dashboard, the state saw 47,198 new infections on Friday. As in Los Angeles County, the number over the past two weeks represents an increase in generally much lower daily cases. The fear, of course, is that the increase is related to events and travel during the holidays. This could be the beginning of a new, unparalleled boom.
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The number of virus-related hospitalizations was 21,433 very high.
PREVIOUS on Wednesday California Governor Gavin Newsom spent much of his Covid-19 briefing on Wednesday discussing new plans to reopen schools. But amid these details, he also reported the news that the state has recorded a shocking 432 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.
By comparison, the already very high 7-day average of deaths on Wednesday was 239. The previous daily record in the state was 379 deaths on December 16th. Even more shocking, on November 30, the number of daily deaths in Covid-19 was 70. Wednesday’s number therefore represents a staggering increase of 617% in the past 30 days. More than 14 days, the governor angrily announced, “there are 3,477 lives lost.”
For those who maintained early in the pandemic that Covid-19 was little more than flu, 3,477 deaths represent more than 50% of California’s typical number of deaths from flu in a year when the flu was widespread.
Newsom on Wednesday identified 30,921 new cases of Covid-19 in the state. He noted that the number reflects a “plateau that we see wider outside of LA County, outside of Southern California.” LA County, of course, remains the center of the virus in the state and possibly the country.
California’s test positivity rate in the state was 12.2% over the past 14 days. Newsom said: ‘There is now evidence that the number is also flat’, but warns not to put too much confidence in the dip.
He said more than 20,000 people were hospitalized with Covid-19. “You are starting to see the number drop moderately across the country,” he added.
The problem area – in addition to deaths – is in state ICUs, especially in the Central Valley and Southern California. “That’s our focus,” Newsom said.
Although the declining daily numbers suggest that the dreaded Thanksgiving boom may have worked through the state, dr. Mark Ghaly, director of health and human services in California, indicated that the state may not yet see the light at the end of the tunnel. Health officials are still worried, “not just because of Thanksgiving,” Ghaly said, “but now also because of Hanukah and Christmas.” If those holidays had an equal or greater amount of travel and domestic mixing, the worst could still be.
In fact, the state’s own modeling predicts that by January 29, California will have a 100% increase in total hospitalizations and a 60% increase in Covid-19 patients in need of ICU care.
You can see Governor Newsom’s news conference below.