UPDATED with the most recent: Friday was by far the deadliest pandemic day in California. On Wednesday, California saw a scary new record of 432 Covid-related deaths. Thursday’s number fell slightly to 428. On Friday, the number of lives lost to the virus soared to 585. This represents a 37% increase in one day.
Some of the deaths were caused by data accumulation due to an Internet outage in Los Angeles and holidays, but that asterisk was applicable every day this week. For comparison, the average 7 days of deaths was 239 on Wednesday.
According to its data panel, the state saw 47,198 new infections on Friday. As with Los Angeles County, that figure represents an increase over daily cases that are generally much lower in the past two weeks. The fear, of course, is that the increase may be related to dating and travel while on vacation. It can represent the beginning of a new wave without parallel.
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The number of hospitalizations related to viruses was very close to the all-time record, with 21,433.
PREVIOUSLY on Wednesday California Governor Gavin Newsom spent much of his Wednesday meeting on Covid-19 discussing new plans to reopen schools. But amid these details, he also reported the news that the state had recorded a shocking 432 Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours.
For comparison, the already high average of deaths in 7 days was 239 on Wednesday. The previous daily record in the state was 379 deaths on December 16. Even more shocking, on November 30, Covid-19’s daily death toll was 70. So Wednesday’s number represents a staggering 617% increase in the past 30 days. Over the course of 14 days, the governor announced sternly, “there are 3,477 lives lost.”
For those who at the beginning of the pandemic maintained that Covid-19 was little more than a flu, 3,477 deaths represent more than 50% of the typical flu deaths in California in a year when the flu spread.
Newsom announced that 30,921 new cases of Covid-19 were identified in the state on Wednesday. He noted that the number reflected a “level that we are seeing outside of LA County, outside of Southern California more broadly.” LA County, of course, remained the epicenter of the virus in the state and possibly the country.
The positivity rate for the California test in the state was 12.2% in the last 14 days. Newsom said: “Now there is some evidence that that number is also stabilizing,” but he warned against putting too much faith in this drop.
He said there were more than 20,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19. “You are starting to see that number decline modestly across the state,” he added.
The problem area – in addition to deaths – is in state ICUs, mainly in the Central Valley and Southern California. “This is our focus,” said Newsom.
While declining daily case numbers indicate that the dreaded Thanksgiving Day rise may have reached the state, CA’s Director of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, indicated that the state may not yet be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Health officials are still concerned, “not just because of thanksgiving,” said Ghaly, “but now because of Hanukkah and Christmas.” If these holidays represented an equal or greater amount of travel and mixing of families, the worst is yet to come.
In fact, the state’s own model predicts that California will see a 100% increase in total hospitalizations through January 29 and a 60% increase in patients with Covid-19 who require ICU care.
You can watch Governor Newsom’s press conference below.