California is now at the center of the country’s latest coronavirus boom, but San Francisco still has one of the lowest cases of the 20 largest cities in the US
As the new year approaches and vaccines continue across the country, the number of cases and deaths is among the highest they have ever been. But the differences between the largest metro areas across the country are strong.
Some, including San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit, have relatively low cases. Others are two, sometimes even three times higher, including major cities in Texas and several provinces in Southern California.
Southern California was the biggest cause of the recent increase in California, although there are also many cases and deaths among Bay Bay cities.
Here’s a look at the most recent cases (daily average per 100,000 in the last seven days) in major metro areas across the country, according to the New York Times tracker:
Large metro areas with lower letters
Seattle seems to have the lowest fall among the major metropolitan areas nationwide. It was the first coronavirus epicenter in the country, but for the majority of the pandemic, cases did not get out of control.
Like other cities, Seattle experienced its worst boom in late November and early December with a peak of 907 new cases recorded on December 4th. But since mid-December, cases have dropped dramatically, with 104 new cases falling on December 26.
Throughout the pandemic, San Francisco is considered a model in the pandemic, leading to shelter-in-place orders and mask mandates, and careful reopening of businesses. It could manage to be the only major metro area in California that transitioned to the least limited yellow reopening level in October.
San Francisco is part of the Bay Region’s mandated by the state, but it has a low case rate compared to other provinces in the Bay Area, with 27.2 new daily cases per 100,000 residents.
Metro areas with higher cases
Los Angeles County turned off the latest surge, adding more than 42,000 cases Friday and Saturday over the holiday weekend to a total of more than 719,000. Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and ICUs are full. The province’s health official says people who gather at different households and mix with them are causing the boom. Officials expect the state mandates to stay at home to be extended for a few weeks until the new year.
Further south, San Diego County is also seeing an increasing fall, although the rate is lower than in Los Angeles. San Diego County reported more than 3,100 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, the 27th consecutive day with more than 1,000 new daily cases in the pandemic. The provincial health official said infections after Thanksgiving accounted for 44% of the total cases, and according to the current job, the country could die another 600 deaths before the end of next month.
In Texas, the country with the second largest population in California, California, Dallas County, is on its own vacation. During the Christmas holiday Thursday through Saturday, Dallas County reported an average of 2,000 daily new cases, and hospital resources and staff are very thin. Officials expect that by January 5, there will be another 1,500 hospitalizations in the province, which is expected to reduce the quality of care. COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in Dallas County.
Arizona reported more than 10,000 new cases on Monday, resulting in a total of the past 500,000, with an increase of more than 50% since Thanksgiving. On Saturday, business in Maricopa County exceeded 300,000. The population from Latino and American India has been excessively affected by the virus.
The state also set records for the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in one day and the number of COVID-19 ICU admissions. Public health and medical leaders earlier this month asked the governor for stricter protocols, including a mandate for the entire mask and a ban on indoor eating.
Kellie Hwang is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KellieHwang