California became the first state on Wednesday to surpass the small mark of 2 million cases coronavirus, just six weeks after hitting the 1 million mark, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The infection rate in California, in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 people, is lower than the U.S. average, but with 40 million residents, it exceeds the rest of the states.
More than 23,500 Californians have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
The state has seen its number of cases increase exponentially in recent weeks, followed by an increase in hospitalization and death rates that have overwhelmed intensive care units and caused hospitals to place inpatients. emergencies in tents and treat other people in offices and auditoriums.
The reasons for avoiding social gatherings for the holidays sounded with special despair in Southern California. Los Angeles County leads the rise, accounting for a third of COVID-19 cases in the state and nearly 40% of their deaths.
“We know this emergency is our darkest day, perhaps the darkest day in our city’s history,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said as he urged people to cancel meeting plans on vacation.
Renee C. Byer / The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool
On Wednesday, the county recorded the highest number of deaths and hospitalizations in a single day since the pandemic began, with 145 deaths and more than 6,000 people in hospitals. More than 9,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the county.
Orange County set a record for hospitalizations Wednesday with 1,854, CBS Los Angeles reports. The county also reported 4,406 new cases of coronavirus and two additional deaths.
Dozens of nurses picketed Wednesday morning across Orange County, protesting deteriorating conditions inside hospitals that have reached a breaking point due to the exponential increase in coronavirus cases. , said the station.
Thanksgiving rallies in California where people ignored rules about wearing masks and social distancing have been blamed for spreading the infection and another rise from the Christmas holidays could push stressed medical systems at the limit, officials warn.
Medical workers are discouraged and outraged by scenes of outdoor malls, crowded parking lots and parents and children walking around without masks, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of county health services.
If Los Angeles County continues to experience the same growth in COVID-19 infections in the next two weeks, hospitals may be forced to ration due to a lack of medical staff, Garcetti said. “That means doctors will be forced to determine who lives and who dies,” he said.
Santa Clara County, near San Francisco, was down to 35 ICU beds, placing hospitals dangerously close to rationing assistance, said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, the county’s director of health preparedness.
Overall, California recorded the second highest number of deaths on Wednesday, with 361. The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units nearly doubled in just three weeks, to 3,827 cases, while the capacity of the State ICU fell to 1.1%, from 2.5% just two days ago. The number of hospitalizations increased to 18,828 patients, more than double since Dec. 1, with 605 new patients in one day.
Still, there were slight but encouraging signs of hope.
The transmission rate (the number of people infecting an infected person in turn) has decreased for almost two weeks. The positive case rate reached a new high of 12.3% over a two-week period, but began to decline over the past seven days, from a peak of 13.3% to 12.6 %.
The number of new positive cases dropped to 39,069 relatively modest, as California has been averaging about 44,000 recently confirmed cases a day.
The state also had about 1,000 health care workers attending 91 facilities in 25 of the state’s 58 counties and opening a fifth alternative care location in San Diego County.
The California National Guard was installing about 200 beds on the vacant floors of the Palomar Health Center near San Diego within the existing hospital complex, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. . He could begin accepting patients on Christmas Day, relieving overcrowded hospitals, especially in nearby Imperial County.
California expects more federal medical workers to arrive over the weekend, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said he expects more than 3,000 hired health workers the state wants to arrive after the holidays.
The governor also said more than 128,000 doses of vaccine had been administered as of Tuesday, another encouraging sign beyond the modest drop in the transmission rate.
But Newsom also warned that any progress could dissipate quickly, leading to the nearly 100,000 hospitalizations some models project in a month if people ignore calls to avoid holiday meetings, especially indoors.
“This virus loves social events,” Newsom said. “This virus thrives in this atmosphere.”