The state’s new gloomy milestone – 2,002,494 cases last Wednesday – came while ICUs are close or at full capacity across the state.
California hit 1 million cases on November 12 and it took less than six weeks for the state to add another million cases. Given the state’s population of 39.5 million, about one in 20 people in California tested positive for the virus.
In all, the US reported 228,131 new cases of the coronavirus and 3,359 new deaths on Wednesday, the third highest number of deaths in a single day. This is a devastating “normal” for the United States, which averaged about 215,000 new cases and more than 2,700 new deaths every day last week.
“With Covid-19 cases steadily increasing across the country, this achievement comes at a critical time and will help protect those on the front lines – our healthcare professionals who care for COVID-19 patients – as well as our most vulnerable: elderly individuals living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, “said CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield.
Vaccines cannot arrive too early for California. The state’s 7-day positivity rate is now 12.6%, a slight drop from previous weeks. However, 55 of California’s 58 counties remain in the most restrictive purple layer of the state’s Covid-19 reopening system, which has resulted in the closure of many non-essential domestic commercial operations.
Governor Gavin Newsom attributed the recent increase in cases to people relaxing their physical distance efforts and meeting with people outside their homes, especially during the holidays.
A total of 23,558 Californians have died of complications from the disease since the pandemic began.
More than 1 million vaccines administered
Just over a week since the first Covid-19 vaccine was authorized, more than 1 million people received their first injection.
That reported number is lower than the actual number because many doses administered in the past few days have yet to be tabulated in the CDC numbers, the agency said.
“It was a big week of vaccine delivery,” General Gustave Perna, chief of operations for Operation Warp Speed, told reporters on Wednesday. “More than 7,800 deliveries by the end of tomorrow, as we are delivering 7.9 million doses of vaccine that have been allocated for this week across the country – truly a tremendous achievement.”
Perna said that about 15.5 million doses of the vaccine have been allocated and another 4.5-5 million doses will be distributed next week.
“We are going to finish these deliveries in the first week of January,” he said.
In addition, health professionals have found that the Pfizer vaccine, a frozen solution that is diluted with saline before being administered to people, can yield more than the five doses initially thought.
As such, Perna said that auxiliary kits shipped with the vaccine are being adjusted with extra supplies to accommodate a possible sixth dose.
“We have adjusted our contract and our kit construction to provide even more capacity as we move forward,” said Perna on Wednesday.
He noted that the kits already had some “extra capacity” built in and that, at the moment, most of the vaccine administration is taking place in hospitals “where they have access to appropriate syringes and needles”.
“So, feel very comfortable with the availability of syringes and needles and our ability to assemble these kits and continue the simultaneous distribution of the kits with the vaccine,” he said.
CNN’s Alexandra Meeks, Andrea Kane, Holly Yan and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.