California hits COVID record with 8,000 cases on Monday

LOS ANGELES — Three months after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an unprecedented statewide stay-at-home order designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, California recorded its highest single-day count of COVID19 cases.

Monday’s tally of more than 8,000 infections broke the state’s daily record for the third time in eight days.

On Tuesday, the state was faced with a new grim milestone: passing the threshold of 6,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

The enormous surge in cases, which now totals more than 223,900 statewide, has prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to order anyone traveling to the state from California — and 15 other states that have seen recent spikes — to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The California increase is not simply the result of expanded testing capacity, officials have said.

The growing rate of positive infections and a spike in hospitalizations are proof the virus is spreading within communities. Health officials have attributed the rising numbers to a combination of events: the further reopening of many businesses, mass protests over the death of George Floyd and clusters of private gatherings.

“We’ve been very clear — this shouldn’t surprise anybody watching — as you reopen the economy, as we move away and make the meaningful modifications which we did to our stay-at-home order, you’re going to see people mixing that were not mixing in the past,” Newsom said during a news conference Monday.

During a news conference Tuesday, Newsom said the state will make additional announcements Wednesday on efforts to “toggle back” on the current health order. The announcement will include instructions related to the July 4th weekend, where Newsom said gatherings are of major concern.

“If you’re not going to stay home and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce (rules),” he said.

In the months since the pandemic struck the U.S., nothing in the fight against the virus has changed except people’s social behaviors, experts say. The state is now closely monitoring 19 counties for surges in cases — which recently have skewed toward younger residents — and hospitalizations, which still largely affect older residents and those with underlying health conditions.