California breaks multiple coronavirus records in one day amid explosive surge
Nurse Rosemary MacLeod (left) and nurse Pauline Tran put on their personal protective equipment before performing Covid-19 tests at Laguna Honda hospital on Thursday, June 25, 2020 in San Francisco, California.(Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chron
California broke a series of coronavirus records Friday after reporting an additional 35,468 new positive cases.
Figures provided by the state show the highest single-day total so far, based on the latest data from December 10. It saw the most patients hospitalized with the virus, at just over 12,000, and the highest number of patients in intensive care, 2,669.
California’s seven-day average has now reached 22,456 people per day. Also, another 159 people in the state died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. That too is a record.
Hospital capacity remains a growing worry as three of five regions are now under mandatory stay-at-home orders for dipping below 15% ICU space.
Much of the Bay Area region, where hospital capacity was close to 17% on Friday, voluntarily entered the state’s new restrictions. Sonoma County joined in Thursday as other counties reported record new virus cases and hospitalizations. In Santa Clara, a county part of the joint order, three hospitals reached full capacity this week.
Sonoma County joins Bay Area stay-at-home order
Starting Saturday, Sonoma County joins five other Bay Area counties with a stay-at-home order due to rising COVID cases. The order curtails some business activities, but restaurant workers say they'll get hit the worst. Meanwhile, hospitals fill with patients.
The San Joaquin and Southern California regions are the most troubling, with just 4.5 and 6.2 percent of capacity remaining. The Greater Sacramento Region, now under tighter restrictions, was down to 14.8 percent and Northern California has 26.6 percent available.
As of Friday, the state has reported 1,485,703 cases of COVID-19 and 20,662 deaths since the pandemic began 10 months ago.
This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.