California passes New York for most COVID-19 deaths

California on Tuesday overtook New York in the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19, regaining the ignominious title 11 months after the first American to die of coronavirus was discovered in Golden State.

The death toll in California rose another 513 on Tuesday, according to data compiled by the news organization, to 44,996 since the pandemic began nearly a year ago. Although the devastating wave in New York last spring was not reproduced anywhere else in the country, California, a state with a double population of New York and 10 million more people than any other state, recorded the deadliest period of the pandemic in New York. the last two months, reporting deaths at three times the rate of New York in the last week.

However, even deaths, considered to be the latest indicator of a delay in an outbreak, began to hit a recession, about a month ago away from the first signs of cases and hospitalizations at the level. The California curve followed a similar trajectory to that of the country, which began to see a declining number of cases and deaths, as well as active hospitalizations.

In California, the average number of new cases continued to decline on Tuesday, after 10,913 were reported around the state. With about 12,320 a day in the last week, California has reduced its cases by almost half compared to two weeks ago, with a decline of 47%, but infections are still at a higher rate than any point before the winter wave. The number of Californians hospitalized with COVID-19 decreased by 35% in the last two weeks to 11,198, starting Monday, the lowest point in the last two months, but still well above any point before Thanksgiving.

The death toll in California has risen by more than 3,100 in the last week – an average of 445 a day – by almost 20% less than two weeks ago, but still triples any seven-day period outside this winter. Two out of five Californians who perished during the entire pandemic have died since the calendar changed in 2021. Since the start of the new year, California has seen more than 18,500 deaths from COVID-19, compared to just over 7,200 in New York. more than 12,000 in Texas and about 6,500 in Florida – the three states with the next most cumulative deaths (and populations).

In April, the deadliest month of the pandemic in New York, nearly 21,300 people were killed, more than the nearly 15,000 lives lost in California last month, with about half the population.

On a per capita basis, California is below all three of its major states, including a pandemic mortality rate of less than half that of New York, which lags behind only New Jersey’s neighbor in lost lives. per capita.

As cases have declined rapidly in California, so has its position in the national ranking of state infection rates. With about 31.2 daily cases per 100,000 residents in the past week, California has gone from first to 20th, according to the New York Times. However, only six other states have a higher proportion of residents who are still being treated for hospital illness, according to the COVID follow-up project; none have a higher overall number of active hospitalizations.

In the Gulf area, cases have dropped drastically enough that some local counties are beginning to sniff out advanced levels of reopening.

There was no local movement in the weekly update provided on Tuesday, but new state data showed a number of counties approaching the red reopening level, which requires an adjusted case rate of 7 / 100K or less and a positivity rate below 8%.