California hits record 585 COVID-19 deaths in 1 day as infections run out of control

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – California started the new year by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in a single day.

The State Department of Public Health said on Friday that more than 47,000 new confirmed cases had been reported, bringing the total to more than 2.29 million.

State hospitals ended the year on the brink of disaster, a health official said as the pandemic pushed death and disease to frightening levels and some medical centers scrambled to provide care. oxygen to seriously ill people.

RELATED: Once a Model, California Now Struggles to Tame COVID-19

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced on Friday that California will begin working with the US Army Corps of Engineers to assess and upgrade outdated oxygen delivery systems at six Los Angeles-area hospitals.

The collaboration comes as older hospitals struggle to maintain oxygen pressure in aging infrastructure, and some scramble to locate additional oxygen reservoirs that released patients can take home.
California this week became the third state to surpass 25,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Southern California’s intensive care bed capacity still remains at 0%.

“In ICU, we are beyond our capabilities. We are creating spaces out of nowhere, ”said Olena Svetlov, MSN, RN at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The rest of the state is not doing much better. The San Joaquin Valley is also at 0% ICU availability. The Bay Area is down 6% and Sacramento is at 11%.

Los Angeles County reported more than 20,000 new cases on Friday and more than 200 deaths.

LA County officials have reported one death every 10 minutes, begging people on social media to stay home and stay safe.

But many ignored those calls on New Years Eve, with a number of public rallies staged across Southern California.

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The LA County Sheriff’s Department announced its “super-spreader” task force on Friday, making 90 arrests at five different locations last night.

Actor Kirk Cameron held another no-mask rally on Thursday, with groups of people seen on Point Mugu Beach for a religious event.

It was a similar scene in Valencia, where hundreds of people filled a parking lot to ring in the New Year. Few of those who attended the open-air concert, hosted by Christian activist Sean Feucht, at Higher Vision Church, wore masks or were physically distant.

Car enthusiasts have gathered in Pasadena for their annual New Years Rose Parade cruise, even though the world-famous show has been canceled.

“It’s hard not to make this correlation between this vacation and the peak we see soon after,” said Shane Reichardt of the Riverside County Emergency Management Department office.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases topped 20 million on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

RELATED: United States Reaches 20 Million in COVID-19 Cases

This is almost twice as many as the second country, India, and nearly a quarter of the more than 83 million cases worldwide.

The United States continued to outperform other countries in COVID-19 cases, reaching 20 million at the start of the new year, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Deaths from COVID-19 have also increased in the country, now totaling more than 346,000 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.