State exits month better than where it started

Monthly death toll of 2,879 was 25% lower than August, 107,514 total cases down 49%

After a record number of COVID-19 cases in July, followed by a record number of deaths from the virus in August, what could September bring? At last, fewer of each in California.

There were nearly half the cases reported in the state in September than the month prior, and the monthly death toll was lower than any month since June, according to data compiled by the Bay Area News Group.

On Wednesday, to close out the month, counties around the state reported 3,128 new cases and another 108 deaths from COVID-19. There wasn’t much change in either sevenday average, both of which have been slashed since the month began — the daily average of cases by 37% to about 3,200 per day and the average number of deaths by 23% to about 83 per day.

A look at the monthly totals reveals a sharp decline in cases from the summer and a potential slowdown in deaths. While the decline in cases has been felt across the state, deaths have risen and fallen in different parts of the state at different times.

Statew ide, there were 107,154 cases and 2,879 deaths from the virus reported during the month of September (which is one day shorter than July and August). That’s a 49% decline in cases from the

211,269 that were reported in August and fewer than half than were reported in July, when the virus was spreading fastest through California. However, the total number of tests fell from about 3.6 million in August to about 3.1 million in September.

The monthly death toll decreased by about 25% from August — the state’s deadliest month of the pandemic. There were 917 fewer fatalities reported in September — or about 26.5 fewer per day — than August, when there were 3,796 deaths reported.

The Bay Area, however, reported its highest month death toll of the pandemic, with 400 fatalities reported throughout the region in September. That’s about 28% more than the 312 deaths reported in the region in August, which had also set a new monthly mark. Yet, on a per- capita basis, the region was still far below the state total (about 5 deaths per 100,000 in the Bay Area vs. 7.3 statewide).

In Los Angeles County, there were fewer than 1,000 deaths from the virus in a month for the first time since March. The 792 fatalities reported in September were about 32% fewer than in August — but the per- capita rate, about 7.9 per 100,000, was still above the state as a whole and about 58% higher than the Bay Area.

In both LA and the Bay Area, the monthly case count was cut nearly in half from the month prior. However, for the Bay Area, that was down from a peak in August, while LA County had already cut its August total by more than one-third from a peak in July.

About 1 in 350 LA Count y residents be - came in infected during the month of September — about in line with the statewide rate for the month — compared to about 1 in 120 during the month of July. The rate in Bay Area in August was about 1 in every 450 residents, compared to about 1 in 240 during August.

The number of active hospitalizations, as well as the positivity rate, have also declined dramatically since the beginning of the month. The statewide seven- day positivity rate fell below 5% for the first time on Sept. 1 and has since fallen by more than two points to a 2.8% rate as of Wednesday. The 2,393 patients hospitalized as of Tuesday, the most recent day for which data was available, were nearly 1,500 fewer than when the month began — down 38%.

As October beg ins, much of the Bay Area has entered the red reopening phase, meaning many