California sets record for most coronavirus cases in a single day

LOS ANGELES – The coronavirus outbreak continued to worsen in California this week, with 9,500 infections recorded on Tuesday – the most new cases reported in a single day since the pandemic began – and triple-digit fatalities that sent the statewide death toll past 6,500.

California cases are on pace to double every 24.8 days, a number that is used by experts to measure how quickly the virus is spreading. As of Wednesday morning, the state had 284,138 coronavirus cases.

Over the last week, California has had an average of 7,403 new coronavirus infections and 69.6 new deaths per day, according to data from the Los Angeles Times’ tracker. With cases continuing to climb and hospitalization numbers increasing, counties across the state have been forced to roll back business reopenings in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

San Francisco officials this week opted to delay loosening restrictions on businesses, including indoor dining at restaurants, which were scheduled to resume next week. The city previously had suspended the reopening of hair salons, zoos, museums and outdoor bars.

San Francisco County had reported 4,020 recorded cases of the coronavirus and 50 deaths as of Wednesday morning.

“We know the pause on reopening is disappointing, but we cannot risk letting the virus get out of control,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.

“We all need to do our part by wearing face coverings, keeping your distance from others, and getting tested so we can get to a place where we can safely resume reopening.”

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said this week that people fed up with the stay-at-home order who have tried to return to a pre-pandemic way of life have contributed to the increased spread of the disease in Southern California.

“It’s clear that after months of quarantine, combined with the reopening of many sectors in the span of several weeks, we’ve had a lot of people disregard the very practices that allowed us to slow the spread,” Ferrer said. “Our inability to follow the most basic infection control and distancing directives leads to serious illness, and even the death of the people we love.”

In Los Angeles County, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases among the state’s 58 counties and the most deaths, officials confirmed

65 new coronavirus-related deaths and 2,496 additional cases Wednesday. A day earlier, officials reported 4,015 new cases, the highest number of infections the county has reported in a single day.

There have been more than 123,000 cases in Los Angeles County and 3,642 deaths.

Health officials attributed Tuesday’s daily spike to a backlog of roughly 2,000 tests between July 2 and July 5. However, officials also noted that the seven-day average for the county’s daily positivity rate – those who test positive for the virus – has climbed to 11.6%. A day earlier, it was just below 10%.

Orange County, which has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the state and the fourth most deaths, is also grappling with a surge in infections and hospitalizations in recent weeks.

The county’s positivity rate, which health officials use to gauge whether case numbers are increasing because of more testing or because there’s more disease spreading within the community, was under 8% over a seven-day period in mid-may.