LOS ANGELES (AP) – California has become the first state to register 2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, reaching the milestone on Christmas Eve, as almost the entire state is under a strict order of residence.
Governor Gavin Newsom has warned that hospitalizations could soon double if people do not change their behavior for the holidays.
A report by Johns Hopkins University showed that the nation’s most populous state recorded 2,010,157 infections in January. At least 23,635 people have died from the virus.
The first COVID-19 case in California was confirmed on January 25. It took 292 days to reach 1 million infections on November 11.
Just 44 days later, the number exceeded 2 million.
The California Department of Public Health recorded 2,003,146 cases separately and an increase of 39,070 one-day infections, which fell from a one-day peak of nearly 54,000 cases in the middle of the month. The state’s death toll rose to 351, also down from a record set last week. Another 427 people were hospitalized, bringing the total to 18,875. The 3,962 in the intensive care units were record, as well as the number of those hospitalized.
“We project that our hospital number will double in just the next 30 days and our projections have become much stronger,” Newsom said in a video posted on its home social media pages, where it remains in quarantine for the second time in a row. a potential exposure. “I’m afraid of that, but we’re not victims of this if we change our behavior.”
The infection rate in California – in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 people – is lower than the US average. But its nearly 40 million inhabitants mean that the outbreak exceeds other states in large numbers.
The crisis is straining the state’s medical system far beyond its normal capacity, prompting hospitals to treat patients in tents, offices and auditoriums.
“In most hospitals, about half of all beds are filled with patients with COVID and half of all ICU beds are filled with patients with COVID, and two-thirds of these patients suffocate from lung inflammation that is caused by the virus.” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
“She suffocates to the point where she can no longer breathe on her own and has to have someone put a tube down her throat to oxygenate her organs. Many of these people will not live until 2021, ”she said.
The county reported new records of deaths on Thursday – 148 in a single day – and hospitalizations, to almost 6,500 people, of which 20% were in the ICU.
The state has seen its numbers grow exponentially in recent weeks, fueled largely by people who ignored warnings and held traditional Thanksgiving rallies, health officials say.
“Our systems are overwhelmed and the virus is spreading,” said a coalition of 10 local health departments in Southern California in what they called an urgent holiday message. “We cannot continue on our current path without facing serious consequences.”
Los Angeles Cathedral in Los Angeles has planned indoor New Year’s and Christmas Masses, with Archbishop José Gomez conducting two of the four services, despite advising priests and pastors on Wednesday that it is safer to celebrate Mass outdoors. .
Dozens of physically distant worshipers took off their masks just to share weapons with clerics, and none of the chants warned health officials could increase the spread.
Father David Gallardo kept a copy of the children’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at an afternoon service, while learning that “darkness does not win,” comparing the coronavirus to the Grinch.
Meanwhile, the 9th Court of Appeals of the US Circuit has refused to lift the orders of lower courts that block domestic Christmas services at churches in Pasadena and Chula Vista, although lawyers have said they will ask the US Supreme Court to intervene.
Los Angeles County health officials said in a statement that “participation in an indoor service will result in the transmission of COVID-19 … which the health care system cannot support at this time.”
Among the new warnings, the state’s medical system will be overwhelmed and unable to provide adequate care if people do not avoid gathering for the holidays or at least take precautions, such as meeting in a safe distance or opening windows and starting fans if they meet indoors.
California Hospital Association President and CEO Carmela Coyle said the 2 million number “means thousands of Californians will spend this holiday season in a hospital. On Christmas Eve, Californians can still make a choice to avoid unnecessary travel and gatherings on Christmas Day. “
In a rare ray of hope, a statistical model that state officials used to design hospitalizations predicts more than 71,000 patients in a month – another unsustainable number four times the current number of patients, but about 40,000 less than the same model a few days ago.
The transmission rate – the number of people an infected person will in turn infect – has slowed for almost two weeks and is approaching the point that it would bring fewer infections from each person contracting the virus.
In addition, the positive case rate reached a new high of 12.4% over a two-week period, but was starting to move down in the last seven days from a peak of 13.3% to 12.6%. The seven-day rate was 12.1% on Thursday.
“Some encouraging signs, in terms of, seem to be some stabilization of the growth rate,” Newsom said on Thursday. He said, however, that this was offset by rising cases and deaths.
Newsom on Wednesday credited home orders for almost the entire state that imposed an overnight shutdown, shut down many companies and restricted most retail to 20% capacity. Restaurants can only serve meals.
Advocates to avoid social gatherings for the Christmas and New Year holidays have sounded especially desperate in Southern California. Los Angeles County leads the increase, accounting for a third of the state’s COVID-19 cases and nearly 40% of deaths.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called Wednesday “perhaps the darkest day in our city’s history,” as the county reported the highest number of deaths and hospitalizations in a single day – 145 deaths and more than 6,000 people in hospitals. More than 9,000 people have died from coronavirus in the county.
If LA County continues to see the same increase in COVID-19 infections in the next two weeks, hospitals may need to be rationally cared for due to a lack of medical staff, Garcetti said.
“That means doctors will be forced to determine who lives and who dies,” he said.
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Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio and AP photographer Ashley Landis from Los Angeles contributed to this story.