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It has been well over a month since COVID-19 cases in California, the positivity rate and hospitalizations were all as low as they reached on Thursday. The deaths, however, continued in large numbers.
Of all tests in California over the past week, 7.5% came back positive for COVID-19, for an average of around 22,150 per day, both figures at their lowest since the first week of December. according to data compiled by this news organization. Meanwhile, fewer Californians are hospitalized with COVID-19 than any point since the third week of December, representing the estimated two-week lag between cases and hospitalizations. Deaths have traditionally followed the trend of hospitalizations for about two weeks.
California’s cumulative death toll rose to more than 39,000 as of Thursday, with 591 more deaths reported in the state. More than 3,700 Californians have perished in the past week, an average of about 539 per day, more than almost any other point in the pandemic.
But California’s other metrics are improving dramatically.
With 16,251 COVID-positive patients hospitalized, California has reduced its active hospitalizations by a quarter from their peak. The last time there were fewer Californians hospitalized with COVID-19 was on December 17. About three weeks later, hospitalizations peaked, with just under 22,000 hospitalized at a time on Jan.6. During the state’s first wave last summer, there were never 10,000 Californians hospitalized at one time.
California’s cases and positivity rate have declined even more.
Average daily cases in the state hit around 45,000 on December 22, but rose close to that point on January 10, when positive tests after the holidays increased the daily average to more than 44,000. Since then, the California has cut its average daily cases in half, with widespread reductions statewide. The per capita infection rate in the country’s largest state, which had climbed to the top of state-by-state rankings, has fallen to about 56 daily cases per 100,000 population, now below 13 other states.
Likewise, the rate of positive return tests in California reached 14.3% on January 7 and has since been cut by almost half. At 7.5% on Thursday, the state’s positivity rate fell below its peak in the state’s first wave last summer, even though it still averages more than twice as high. case. This week was also the first time that California’s positivity rate had fallen below 8%, within the range of the red reopening level, since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the regional order to stay at home. home almost two months ago.
In the Bay Area, cases and deaths continue to occur at a slower rate than California as a whole. Of the 591 statewide deaths on Thursday, 86 were in the San Francisco Bay Area, including three counties with double-digit death tolls: Santa Clara County, where the cumulative number of cases is expected to exceed 100,000 over the weekend, reported 36 new deaths, the fourth highest total. in the state Thursday. It was followed by 18 in Contra Costa County, where the total death toll rose to 525, and 11 in San Francisco, where the death toll topped 300.
Southern California was responsible for 431 statewide deaths as of Thursday, nearly three in four, roughly the proportion of deaths it has been responsible for so far throughout the deadliest month of pandemic in California, although it makes up just over half of the state’s population. Seven of the 10 highest county death tolls on Thursday were in southern California: 210 in Los Angeles, 69 in San Diego, 55 in Riverside, 30 in San Bernardino, 29 in Orange, 15 in Ventura and 14 in Imperial.
Each region has reduced its infection rate by about half from two weeks ago, the two main decreases in the condition. But in the Bay Area, there were about 32 daily cases per 100,000 people over the past week, while the rate in Southern California was more than double: about 67.5 per 100,000 people.
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