California overtakes New York as US state with most COVID-19 deaths

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California surpassed New York on Tuesday as the U.S. state with the most coronavirus deaths, a grim reminder of the pandemic’s toll even as the vaccine rolls out and a sharp drop in the number of new cases have fueled the hope that life will eventually return to Ordinary.

More than 45,000 people died Tuesday evening from COVID-19 in California, the most populous of the 50 states and one of the hardest hit in recent months. New York, badly affected at the start of the pandemic last spring, reported 44,693 lives lost, according to a Reuters tally. Here

“It is a heartbreaking reminder that COVID-19 is a deadly virus, and we mourn alongside all Californians who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one during this pandemic,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the Secretary of State for Health. milestone in an email to Reuters.

California, home to some 40 million people, became the main U.S. epicenter of the pandemic in a surge in infections and year-end hospitalizations that swept through much of the country, pushing many systems health to their limits.

Considered in terms of deaths per capita, California, with 113 deaths per 100,000 population, ranks 32nd in the country in terms of COVID-19 mortality. By comparison, New York, with 230 deaths per 100,000 population, ranks second after New Jersey, which has recorded about 248 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 population.

Across the country, the daily tally of new cases and hospitalizations from COVID-19 has declined steadily in recent weeks, while deaths, a lagging indicator, have leveled off.

The United States as a whole reported 27.25 million infections and 468,559 deaths as of Tuesday night. Just over 79,000 U.S. patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the lowest daily number since mid-November.

But in California, as in other states, the improvement masks a march of illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths, which remain far higher than they were at the previous peak of the pandemic last summer.

The number of daily reported lives lost in the state has declined in recent weeks, but remains “remarkably” high with an average of 500 deaths per day over the past 14 days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. press conference.

“The deaths continue to be devastating,” Newsom said when a vaccination site opened at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara County, near San Francisco.

Public health experts fear that gatherings for Super Bowl celebrations on Sunday, as well as the arrival of new, highly contagious variants of the virus could lead to a further increase in cases before most Americans are vaccinated.

In an effort to speed up the vaccination campaign that was relied on to end the pandemic, President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration plans to increase the number of vaccine doses shipped to states from February 15.

Part of the expanded supply will be sent to community health centers with the aim of improving access to vaccines for the predominantly poor and minority populations that these centers serve, the White House said on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, about 33 million Americans had received at least one dose of the vaccine to fight the coronavirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

“This vaccine is the weapon that will win this war,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a press briefing Tuesday. Ten percent of New York state residents have received the vaccine, he said.

(This story corrects two numbers that were reversed in paragraph five, to show that New Jersey had 248 deaths per 100,000 and New York 230 per 100,000.)