California on Tuesday added just over 12,000 new cases of Covid-19, the lowest daily number in a state devastated by a dramatic wave of vacations since Thanksgiving, according to data from the state health department.
“We haven’t seen a similar number in a long time,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said at a news conference. Just two weeks ago, the state reported an average daily count of about 40,000 new cases.
But while state health officials see signs of optimism after the darkest months of the pandemic, they are renewing calls to avoid meetings before the Super Bowl and the Lunar New Year, warning that it could provoke another deadly rise in the virus that has claimed the lives of more than 41,000 Californians.
Looking ahead: Hospitalizations are expected to drop by more than half over the next month, Ghaly said. In the last two weeks, there has been a 29% decrease in hospitalizations with more than 14,000 patients receiving treatment. About 3,800 of these people are in intensive care units.
These projections have led to the withdrawal of regional orders to stay home across the state. ICU capacity projections were a driving force in these restrictions, and the statewide state is now expected to be well above the 15% threshold set by the state. In new projections, Southern California, which has been the hardest hit region in the state, is expected to have the largest ICU capacity in the state next month.
But so far more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 variants have been detected in California, two different versions of the West Coast variants along with the UK variant.
“Variants create another wildcard,” Ghaly said, adding that the new strains are a matter of genuine concern that is being closely monitored as the state continues to actively sequence mutations and increase the ability to do more.
“If you give Covid an inch, it will take a mile,” he warned.