Virus trials begin in Bay Area
Newsom: State ‘turning the corner’ as summer surge appears to ease
SACRAMENTO — California is “turning the corner on this pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, but he plans to move more cautiously in reopening businesses that were forced to shut down for a second time during this summer’s surge in new coronavirus cases.
At a news conference where he touted his administration’s economic recovery efforts, Newsom seemed to acknowledge that the state had not done enough during its initial reopening this spring to ensure public compliance with safety precautions against the virus.
The governor said the task force he convened to advise him on the economy is working on public education campaigns and enforcement strategies the state can use when businesses are allowed to reopen.
“A big part of these efforts moving forward — when, not if — when we make subsequent modifications to these sectoral guidelines,” Newsom said, “is a commensurate effort with much more focus, much more intention, and more deliberative mindset than was the case a number of months ago” when businesses such as indoor restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen.
Although an early statewide shutdown order was credited with slowing the spread of the coronavirus, California saw its case rate explode in June and July after allowing much of the economy to begin operating again. Last month, Newsom ordered bars and indoor dining shuttered for a second time and closed gyms, indoor religious services, hair and nail salons, offices and malls in dozens of counties experiencing an elevated spread of the virus. He also ordered schools in those counties to begin the academic year with distance learning rather than inperson instruction.
Despite the recent revelation that a computer error caused the state to undercount coronavirus cases, Newsom reiterated Wednesday that he was optimistic about recent trends in the state — including a 19% decrease in hospitalizations over the past two weeks, to 5,422.
“This is what gives me some confidence we’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “These are specific proof points that connect to some optimism that what we’re doing as a state — and I say we, the people of the state of California, 40 million strong — what you are doing is working.”
Yet deaths related to the coronavirus, a statistic that tends to lag behind new cases, appear to be rising.
August has seen an average of 129 deaths a day in the state, up from the 101 daily average in July and about double June’s average of 64 a day.
Since the pandemic began, 594,353 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 10,810 have died.
The average number of daily recorded cases appears to have dropped slightly this month, to 7,648. By contrast, July saw an average of 8,579 new cases a day — more than double that of June.
In the Bay Area, 66,594 people have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 941 have died.
Unlike statewide, however,
Bay Area cases are continuing to rise sharply. So far this month, an average of 1,022 new cases have been recorded each day — a 25% increase over the daily average of 818 cases in July. June’s average was far lower, at 393 new cases a day.
Newsom credited Californians for following his mandate to wear face coverings in public, which he said he believes is largely responsible for a decline in transmission. But he urged people to maintain their vigilance as the state looks ahead to reopening the economy again. If not done correctly, he said, California could revert right back to the spike it went through in June and July.
“That’s why we’ve been very cautious, very deliberative, as we begin the modification,” Newsom said. “One thing we know is this could flare up in a moment. There is no having made it as it relates to being successful in this space, as it relates to transmission of this disease, unless and until we get a vaccine.”