More than 530 Californians are dying every day from COVID-19, pushing several counties apart from new dark landmarks.
This week, Santa Clara County and Sacramento County each reported their 1,000th cumulative death from COVID-19, while San Diego County reached 2,000th.
And Los Angeles County, long the epicenter of California’s coronavirus outbreak, officially surpassed 13,000 pandemic-related fatalities on Thursday – more deaths than all but nine states.
“When we ask our residents to stay at home and follow the rules and business to follow the health officer’s orders, it’s to prevent COVID-19’s loss of life,” said LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, in a statement. “This disease is spreading wildly now, and we continue to plead with residents, businesses and government, the community, to do everything possible to prevent it from spreading.”
More than 6,300 Californians have died of COVID-19 since New Year’s Day, a two-week total that represents about 20% of the total of more than 32,300 coronavirus-related fatalities in the state.
The union’s most populous state now has the second highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, just behind New York, according to data compiled by The Times. Overall, California still has the 13th lowest death rate among states when adjusting the population – with about 83 deaths from coronavirus per 100,000 residents.
That number belies how fast the death toll has been rising recently.
In the past week, an average of 534 residents died of COVID-19 every day, a rate that has increased 84% from two weeks ago and is the highest ever seen in a pandemic.
On Thursday alone, local health jurisdictions in California reported 637 deaths – the third highest count in a single day so far. The top three fatality totals in one day were reported last week.
Among the recent fatalities was a 19-year-old man in San Diego County, who local health officials said was the youngest resident to die of complications from COVID-19.
“We understand that the pandemic is affecting the community, but today’s report is a reminder that we must do everything in our power to protect ourselves and slow the spread of COVID-19,” said public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten in a statement Thursday.
Dr. Sara Cody, health officer and director of public health for Santa Clara County, called reaching 1,000 deaths in total “a devastating and tragic milestone for our community.”
“We regret every life lost and our goal remains to save as many lives as possible,” she said in a statement. “The harsh reality is that COVID-19 remains extremely widespread in our municipality and throughout the state. Even though we have all sacrificed for almost a year to fight this virus, prevent infections and return to our normal lives, we must remain vigilant or we will see more deaths and extreme challenges for our hospitals and healthcare systems. “
The deaths represent the chilling but inevitable conclusion to the overwhelming trajectory of COVID-19.
As more people become infected, more people will need hospitalization and, eventually, more people will die. The only way to avoid devastation in the future, officials say, is to reduce transmission to begin with.
Although the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the state has stabilized somewhat over the past week or so – generating cautious optimism in some quarters that the feared post-holiday increase may not be as severe as before designed – the coronavirus remains rampant.
California reported about 44,000 new cases of coronavirus a day last week, including 40,865 on Thursday.
The authorities estimate that about 12% of infected people will need hospital care at some point, which means that new waves of people will need professional care in the coming weeks.
“The problem, of course, is that these numbers are ready. They are already ready. Viral spread has already occurred, ”said Carmela Coyle, president and chief executive of California Hospital Assn. “And we, in the health service delivery system, cannot change this number of positive infections. All we can do is be prepared to serve those who now need intensive care ”.
At the current rate, California will record its 3 million cumulative cases of coronavirus in a matter of days. LA County is approaching 1 million.
There are some signs, however, that the situation in LA County is no longer deteriorating as dramatically as it once did.
The average number of new daily cases across the county showed an upward trend from January 4 to Wednesday, reaching an average of 15,102 per day. On Friday morning, the rate fell slightly, to a moving average of 14,839 new cases per day.
However, it is too early to say whether this is a momentary sign or a hopeful sign of progress.
Given the stubbornly high case count, LA county officials said they are evaluating possible new health orders designed to prevent the disease from spreading.
Configurations that may face other restrictions include outdoor gyms, which were allowed to open at 50% capacity, and indoor malls and retail establishments, which should be open at only 20% capacity, said LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, on Thursday night.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, said on Thursday that there are scenarios in which the search for additional restrictions would make sense. But, he said, any new rule must be part of a balanced overall approach.
“There are many angelenos who have not yet felt the impact of COVID and are ready to be infected and have widespread in their communities,” he said. “I think that focusing on the message and enforcing some of the existing restrictions, as well as an important boost for masking and harm reduction … that kind of message, I think it should also break with any additional restrictions.”