California follows Texas for having 1 million coronavirus cases

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Data from Johns Hopkins University revealed on Thursday that California is nearing the 1 million mark in coronavirus cases, the second state after Texas to record the highest number of infections.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom has noted that besides the rise in the average number of people testing positive, the positivity rate is also increasing.
• Since September, daily case counts in California have been climbing; over the past days, 6,000 to 7,000 infections have been recorded.

As of Thursday, California now ranks as the second state after Texas to hit the 1 million mark in COVID-19 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Topping 10 million infections, both Texas and California make up about 20% of the country’s overall case count.

In a briefing earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “Obviously it’s sobering, these numbers but again the total capacity that we built out, the ability to test being substantially greater than it was just even a few weeks ago, let alone a few months ago, and the ample inventory of over 500 million masks and other related PPE is significant,” citing the state’s 14-day positivity rate which rose from 2.5% to 3.9% on October 19. 

According to state records, California’s daily case counts had steadily climbed since late September after the state logged in more than 12,000 daily infections on several occasions in July. Over the past days, the state has been posting about 6,000 to over 7,600 cases.

By Thursday afternoon, 995,575 confirmed cases were reported as the state inched towards the 1-million mark.

Incidentally, Los Angeles County recorded more than 2,000 new cases between Nov. 7 to Nov. 10, further contributing to at least one-third of infections to the 1-million total.

“These numbers are demonstrating real and alarming increases, and the next two weeks will be crucial,” said Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer in a briefing Monday.

As of briefing, the seven-day average of daily tests was at 143,711 but now the count is nearing 200,000, says Newsom.

Furthermore, he noted the surge in hospitalizations which increased by more than 28%, however, COVID-19 patients comprise only 4% of the health care total capacity. Although the ICUs are packed, Newsom said over 20,000 ventilators are available.

In the meantime, new state lab Perkin Elmer will reportedly bolster its testing capacity to 150,000 daily tests although so far, 40,000 tests have already been performed.

Source: Fox News