California snaps plateau of cases

State's daily average falls below 3,000 for the first time since June, down 7.5% in two weeks

For the first time in more than four months, California is now reporting, on average, fewer than 3,000 cases of COVID-19 per day, according to data compiled by this news organization.

The milestone broke a monthlong plateau in reported cases following a weekend in which there were no more than 2,000 cases on either day — the state’s lowest consecutive two- day total since Memorial Day weekend. The 1,809 new cases reported Sunday lowered the daily average to about 2,940 per day, about 7.5% below where it was two weeks ago and

the lowest it has been since June 14.

In the Bay Area, however, the 584 new cases reported Sunday were its most in more than two weeks, despite typically lower numbers reported on weekends. Four counties in the region did not update their numbers Sunday, but the cases in Santa Clara and Alameda more than made up the difference.

In both Alameda and Santa Clara counties, the 178 and 172 new cases, respectively, were their most reported in a single day since Sept. 18, exactly a month ago.

Throughout the past month, though, cases have continued to shrink in the Bay Area while the state remained plateaued. And as the state plateaued, transmission of the virus soared nationwide. The Bay Area is just barely outpacing the state over the past two weeks: a 9.5% decline in daily cases to an average of

about 434 per day over the past week.

Although there’s been little recent change in the number of patients hospitalized with the virus statewide, that could be attributed to increases in parts of Southern California paired with continued steady declines in the Bay Area and elsewhere.