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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California on Wednesday reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases, shattering the state’s previous one-day record as Governor Gavin Newsom – himself quarantined at home after his family has been exposed – plans a new stay – order from home.
Following a surge in early summer that sparked a new round of restrictions, California cases fell in August and September. The state eased restrictions, allowing more businesses to operate, resume indoor religious services, and reopen many schools for classroom instruction.
But new cases have exploded in recent weeks to the point that the state is recording an average of 15,000 new cases per day and the infection rate has more than doubled. A record 8,500 people are in hospital, including more than 2,000 in the intensive care unit, leaving the state with fewer than 2,000 intensive care beds available.
Newsom staff were hit. A member of the governor’s office tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon, the office said. The staff member has had no contact with the quarantined governor, but it is believed he has come into contact with other staff, who will begin the quarantines, the office said.
Overall, California has reported more than 1.2 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 19,300 deaths. The state reported 20,759 new cases on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 18,350 set last week.
In Los Angeles, county health director Barbara Ferrer said, “We are seeing a terrifying increase in numbers.”
The country’s largest county with around 10 million people recorded its highest daily case total on Tuesday at more than 7,500 and on Wednesday fell to just under 6,000, still one of the highest to date.
The county’s workload increased 225% in three weeks in November, which is reflected in a steep, consistent line that is increasing on a chart used during its briefing.
Ferrer urged everyone to mask off outside the house for all activities except swimming.
“We have a choice to make, each of us,” Ferrer said. “Do we want to be part of a solution to this horrible push or do we want to be the problem? Because where you fall in this effort now has a life and death consequence. “
Newsom warned Monday that “red flags are flying”, saying if the numbers do not improve he will take “drastic measures”. Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties have already done so, imposing new stay-at-home orders.
Newsom is expected to follow suit, possibly as early as Thursday. The new measures would come at a critical time for retailers and restaurants, which were relying on a robust holiday season to rebound after a year marked by forced closings.
Last month, the state’s besieged restaurant and hospitality industry added 66,000 jobs as the state’s unemployment rate fell below 10% for the first time since March. But new restrictions threaten those gains.
And the surge in new cases coincides with an eruption of politicians breaking the very rules they urge the public to follow, thus undermining their credibility.
State public health officials said Wednesday’s record number of cases was not a real day-to-day change as the number includes cases from previous days. But they recognized the alarming increase.
Experts said the surge in new cases probably did not yet reflect the trips and gatherings around Thanksgiving. Brad Pollock, associate dean for public health sciences at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, said he expects Thanksgiving cases to start showing up in hospitals around Christmas.
“I think the ICUs are going to be very busy over Christmas,” he said.
California reported 113 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number since 162 were reported on October 13. Still, Pollock noted that the death rate has declined as the virus has infected a younger population.
Newsom was still in isolation at his Sacramento-area home on Wednesday after three of his children were exposed to the virus by an infected California Highway Patrol agent. A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the governor would stay at home until the weekend.
The governor has already imposed the toughest restrictions on 51 of the state’s 58 counties comprising almost the entire state’s population of nearly 40 million, including a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for everything. except essential shopping and work. But some local government officials have refused to enforce these rules, including Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who announced Wednesday he contracted the coronavirus after being close to an employee who also tested positive .
“The Sheriff is just one of dozens of employees at the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office who, despite strict institutional security practices and following all recommended personal security protocols, contracted the virus while carrying out their duties. essential functions, ”Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Said Rod Grassmann.
Other local governments impose their own drastic measures. In Santa Ana, a city of more than 300,000 people in Orange County, southern California, the city council voted to allow a mandatory face mask rule and have police enforce it.
“The public should know that there could be consequences if they don’t comply. But we would rather not have to take such steps, ”city spokesman Paul Eakins said.
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Associated Press reporters Brian Melley in Los Angeles and Amy Taxin in Orange County contributed to this story.
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