California on Friday reported its worst coronavirus pandemic figures, setting a new record in new cases and recording the second death toll in a single day.
State counties collectively reported 54,532 new cases, surpassing by nearly 3,000 the previous one-day record set just one day earlier on Thursday. They also recorded 279 deaths, most of the pandemic in addition to the catastrophic count of 428 on Wednesday.
Both the state’s seven-day average (40,254) and seven-day average deaths (224.86) also hit new highs on Friday, as California surpassed the 1.8 million cases accumulated, according to data collected by this news organization.
The deadliest stretch of the pandemic refuses to give way. Record days in case the count has become a regular spot in California over the past month, and every day and every week they find out a new reality.
And while the arrival of vaccines this week in different parts of the state brought the promise of safety for front-line health workers, it’s unclear to what extent vaccines will slow the transmission of COVID-19 .
Still, Californians received good news Saturday when Moderna began distributing millions of doses of its own vaccine across the country. California expects to receive 672,000 doses of the vaccine, which hospitals prioritize for front-line health workers.
The bay area reported 4,640 new cases and 62 deaths on Friday, both figures that marked the second-highest pandemic total in a single day in the region, and record days occurred earlier this week. .
Together, the 10 counties that make up the region have now seen 210,133 cases of coronavirus.
Santa Clara County continues to lead the prosecution in deaths and records, recording 1,471 new cases and 17 fatalities Friday. San Mateo County recorded 15 deaths, by far the highest number of pandemics, while Alameda County recorded 11, the second highest since Wednesday.
On Friday, residents of the bay area received phone alerts that the region had introduced a stay-at-home order, even though many counties in the region had voluntarily adopted home-stay restrictions weeks earlier.
The order, which went into effect at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, enforces state restrictions (including a ban on outdoor dining and limits on retail capacity) for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma Counties.
It came after the availability of beds in the ICU in the bay area fell below the state’s 15% threshold for new restrictions. At the end of Friday, the availability of the region stood at 12.8%, according to state data.
As deaths continue to rise (the state has recorded the first, second, third and fourth deadliest days of last week’s pandemic), officials have set up new mobile facilities and begun distributing thousands of body bags .
Despite the poor location of the bay area, other regions of the state have proportionally far fewer beds to offer new COVID-19 patients.
The availability of beds in the ICU in both Southern California and the San Joaquin regions was 0.0% on Friday, according to state data, though that doesn’t mean hospitals in the region can’t offer any care. at the ICU. It means that the quality of care will decrease and that health workers will be striving to keep up with patient loads.
San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties continue to accumulate cases in Southern California, averaging 206.9 and 134.5 cases per 100,000 residents, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Meanwhile, the availability of beds in the ICU in the Sacramento region, which has hovered around the California threshold, stood at 14.5% at the end of Friday. But according to the rules, the region will remain under the state’s tenure order for at least three weeks before it can release the restrictions again.