With the end of the second week of February, so is the second consecutive week of consistent declines in all COVID-19 values in California, according to data compiled by this news organization. However, cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain higher than ever before this winter.
On Thursday, there were another 10,401 new cases and 541 deaths from COVID-19 across California, both still high but lower than the previous week, while its active hospitalizations fell by a network of another 400 patients. and the total number of patients being treated in intensive care units fell below 3,000 for the first time in two months. Only 4.6% of tests tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week, compared to a positivity rate of over 14% last month during the peak of the pandemic.
At about 11,320 cases a day in the last week, the state estimates on average about a quarter of the infections it had last month – at the height of its outbreak – including a 50% drop in the past two weeks. However, deaths continue to come at a rate of about 414 per day in the last week, down almost 25% from two weeks ago, but still three times higher than any point before the winter wave.
Even though deaths are declining, Californians continue to die in substantially greater numbers than any other state.
The total number of deaths in the state, which recently surpassed New York for most of the country, exceeded 46,000 on Thursday. In the past week, California has reported nearly 1,000 more COVID-19 casualties than its nearest state, Texas, according to the New York Times. Of the six states that have reported at least 100 deaths a day in the past week, only Arizona has reported a higher per capita rate.
Although California ranks first in the total number of lives lost by the virus, 30 states have lost a larger proportion of their population. Even Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people and one of the most affected cities in California, would fall below 10 states in lost lives per capita, even if it has a total death toll of more than seven. they and any other county in the nation.
On Thursday, Los Angeles County and the rest of Southern California continued to account for an excessive share of deaths across the state, but 33 of its 58 counties added to their deaths.
The Bay Area combined to report 67 across the region, led by 30 in Santa Clara County, 15 in Contra Costa County and 13 in Alameda County.
The share of about 69% of Southern California’s total national deaths on Tuesday was lower than its overall share throughout the pandemic, but remained well above its share of the population. The region accounted for the four largest death toll in the county and seven out of 13 with double-digit deaths: 158 in Los Angeles County, 59 in San Bernardino County, 51 in San Diego County, 42 in Orange County, 23 in Riverside County, 18 in Ventura County and 10 in Imperial County.
Now, however, the counties of Southern California no longer populate almost exclusively the list of the highest infection rates in the state.
In a month removed from a state rate of over 100, only three California counties recorded a daily average per capita of at least 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the past week. All three are sparsely populated and have combined for less than 25 total cases per day in the last week. Nationally, there have been fewer than 30 daily cases per 100,000 residents in the last week, for the first time since Thanksgiving, a lower infection rate than 21 other states, according to the Times.
Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles are still in the top 10, but with the respective daily infection rates in the last week of 43, 35 and 34 cases per 100,000 residents.
Now, several counties in the San Joaquin Valley populate the top 10 states: Kern, Kings, Stanislaus and Merced counties, with infection rates ranging from 39 to 45 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
In the wider Gulf area, no county has recorded more than 30 daily cases per 100,000 residents in the last week, and all five main counties have reported infection rates between 16 and 21 per 100,000.