California recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday, providing a grim answer to the question of whether the death toll from COVID-19 would rise amid the wave of new cases that has followed moves to lift lockdown orders and restart the state’s stalled economy.
Public health officials across California reported 151 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, far surpassing the previous single-day high of 122 deaths set on May 19, according to data compiled by this news organization.
Earlier Wednesday, before the record-breaking number of deaths was reported, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that people should not let fatigue or an apparently falling mortality rate from COVID-19 obscure “the reality still of hundreds of people across this country dying on a daily basis from this disease.”
For weeks now, California has been reporting massive increases in the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases, after the state proceeded with a plan to reopen bars, shopping malls and other businesses that some public health officials said was too aggressive.
Hospitalizations have been on the rise as well. And the percentage of tests for coronavirus that are coming back positive has been growing: The seven-day average of that rate reached 7.5 percent this week, compared to 4.4 percent a month ago.
Health experts had warned it would take longer for those increases to lead to more deaths, which are a lagging indicator, reflecting infections from weeks prior to the point people ultimately die from COVID-19.
Now, that point appears to have arrived.
Wednesday marked the third consecutive day in which the reported COVID-19 death toll topped 100, a first for California. While officials have said some of those figures reflect delayed reporting from the holiday weekend, the seven-day average of deaths from the illness — considered a more reliable measure than single-day counts — has reached 78.6 — its highest point since May 21.
In all, 6,715 people have died from COVID-19 in California. California recorded 8,587 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing that seven-day average to 7,604.
So far, the Bay Area accounts for a sliver of the deaths statewide and continues to mostly avoid the worst of the virus, though the region topped 30,000 confirmed cases on Wednesday. But the number of new coronavirus cases continues to rise in nearly every part of the state, along with the number of people hospitalized.
On Wednesday, state officials added Napa County to their watch list of counties showing alarming trends, a list that includes nearly half of California’s 58 counties, accounting for most of the state’s residents.
Los Angeles has long been the epicenter of the virus in California, accounting for over 40 percent of the 290,000-plus cases and over half of the deaths, despite making up about a quarter of California’s population. On Wednesday, Los Angeles and Riverside counties reported the majority of coronavirus fatalities, with a combined death toll of 84.
As the number of cases and deaths continues to spike in California, the disease has continued to have a disproportionate impact on minority communities. Latinos, for example, make up 38.9 percent of California’s population but 54.6 percent of coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among Latinos topped 100,000.
Hospitals build capacity amid surge
Newsom and health officials noted Wednesday that the state’s medical systems have improved their coronavirus treatments, and that hospitals are working to build up their capacity to ensure they aren’t overwhelmed.
California’s latest efforts to increase the capacity of its medical system aren’t as dramatic as those taken in the early days of the pandemic, when medical officials hastily created field hospitals in arenas and convention centers, bracing for an onslaught of patients that never arrived. But it has included recent work to move patients from hard-hit areas such as Imperial County to the Bay Area and other parts of the state where hospitals have more space to accommodate them.
“We’re doing this because we’re seeing hospitalization rates grow,” Newsom said. “The last four months have been meaningful and intentional, and we have done an enormous amount to prepare.”
As the number of cases has swelled, though, Newsom has been forced to defend his administration’s reopening strategy, which while less aggressive than other states’ still drew concern from more cautious health officials. A growing number of Californians appear to share that concern, according to a tracking poll released Wednesday, which found 53 percent of people think the state is moving too quickly to lift lockdown restrictions, up from 43 percent the week prior.
On Wednesday, though, Newsom placed more of the blame for the rising hospitalizations and case rates on individual decisions to eschew public health guidelines.
“It’s because people are not wearing their masks,” he said. “People are not — for many different reasons, many different circumstances — practicing the physical distancing that they should.”
