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As large parts of California returned to lockdown and health systems crunched under stress in many states, new cases of Covid-19 in the United States remained above 200,000 on Saturday, with more 2000 deaths.
Johns Hopkins University recorded 213,875 new cases, up from nearly 228,000 on Friday in a week of rising numbers after a Thanksgiving lull in record keeping. Amid records worsened by vacation travel and gatherings, there have been 2,254 new deaths, adding up to 280,979 deaths out of nearly 14.6 million cases.
There were 101,190 hospitalizations, according to the Covid Tracking Project, down slightly from Friday’s record. The seven-day moving average of deaths has passed 2,000 for the first time since the spring. Two weeks ago it was 1448.
In an urgent attempt to slow the rapid rise in coronavirus cases, a large area of southern California, much of the San Francisco Bay Area, and much of the Central Valley were to be placed under new radical lockdown from Sunday evening.
The state’s public health department said intensive care capacity at hospitals in Southern California and the Central Valley was below the 15% threshold that triggers the new measures, which include strict closures for businesses and a ban on meeting with anyone outside of your own household. The new measures will remain in place for at least three weeks, covering the Christmas holidays.
Much of the rest of the state is on the brink of the same restrictions. Some counties have chosen to impose them before the mandate goes into effect, including five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the new plan, the most restrictive order since he imposed the first statewide stay-at-home rule in March. But the situation is now darker.
“The risk of contracting Covid in the community is now higher than it has ever been,” Dr. Eric McDonald, San Diego County medical director, told reporters on Saturday, urging the public to help the state to overcome its worst wave of cases. .
California has recorded 1.3 million cases, setting a new daily record Friday with 25,068. Hospitalizations have exceeded 9,000 and more than 2,100 patients are in intensive care.
Southern California’s 11-county area, which includes Los Angeles and San Diego, had only 12.5 percent of available intensive care beds, the state reported on Saturday. The figure was 8.6% for the San Joaquin Valley, a dozen counties in the Central Valley and rural areas of the Sierra Nevada. Together, the two regions are home to more than half of California’s population of 40 million.
“We are at a point where the spike in cases and hospitalizations is not slowing down,” said Dr Salvador Sandoval, public health officer for the city of Merced. “I cannot stress this enough – everyone must take personal steps to protect themselves and others.”
The other three regions – Greater Sacramento, Northern California, and San Francisco Bay – had approximately 21% capacity. But health workers in five of the 11 Bay Area counties did not wait. On Friday, they adopted the state house stay order for the counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa, as well as the city of Berkeley.
“Our biggest fear from the start – that we won’t have a bed for you or your mother or your grandmother or grandfather when they get sick – is the reality we will be facing unless we slow down. the spread, ”San Francisco Mayor London Breed told me.
The Bay Area order will last until at least January 4, a week longer than the state timeline.
The new closures have been a heartbreaking gesture for small businesses. Michelle Saunders James was in tears on Friday about closing her Oakland nail salon just five weeks after it reopened.
“We wear [face] Shields. We take the temperatures. We do whatever we are told to do to make everyone feel safe, including our staff and our team, ”she told KGO-TV. “So I don’t understand why it’s not enough, and I’m terribly sad and scared.
Other states are struggling, and federal centers for disease control and prevention have advised that masks be worn indoors anywhere except at home.
In Arizona on Saturday, the senior public health official reported a near-record high of nearly 6,800 new infections, telling people to wear masks around anyone outside their homes, “even those you know and in whom you trust ”.
“We have to act as if anyone we are with can be infected,” Dr Cara Christ wrote on Twitter.
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