Calif. case total tops in U.S. after record day
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A record one-day total of newly confirmed coronavirus cases gave California more than 415,000 since the pandemic began, sending it past New York for the most in the country, data from Wednesday showed.
California’s cases have climbed rapidly in the past month, punctuated by the 12,807 recorded Tuesday, while New York’s have fallen to fewer than 1,000 per day. California’s overall total is about 6,000 more than New York’s.
The surge of cases in California came after much of its economy was reopened in May and early June following nearly three months under the nation’s first statewide stay-athome order.
Statewide, hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the past month to more than 7,100 patients. Coronavirus patients in intensive care have risen 71 percent over the same time frame to more than 2,000 patients.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and health officials have blamed the increase on people — many of them younger adults — gathering with friends and family and not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.
At the end of June, Newsom began reimposing shutdowns. Bars and inside dining are again forbidden statewide, and tougher restrictions — including bans on indoor religious services and in-person instruction at schools and closures of indoor malls and gyms — have been imposed on nearly every large county and some small ones where the outbreak is most severe.
Officials say it’s still too soon to know if the new restrictions will adequately slow the spread of the virus.
New York still has the most coronavirus-related deaths in the country with more than 32,500 — four times more than California’s tally of about 7,900. New York’s rate of confirmed infections of about 2,100 per 100,000 people is twice California’s rate.
Newsom said it wasn’t surprising California would have the most cases. But he added that it is “a sober reminder of why we are taking things as seriously as we are.”