California sees near-record deaths, modest signs of hope
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California had a near record number of daily coronavirus deaths as pandemic cases strained hospitals and reduced normal intensive care space to a record low, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, yet there were faint hints that residents may be heeding medical officials’ increasingly desperate calls for caution during the holidays.
The transmission rate — the number of people that one infected person will in turn infect — also has been slowing for nearly two weeks. The rate of positive cases reached a new high of 12.3% over a two-week period, but was starting to trend down over the last seven days from a peak of 13.3% to 12.6%.
The number of new positive cases dropped to a relatively modest 39,069, given that California has been averaging nearly 44,000 newly confirmed cases a day.
“We are experiencing a modest decline in the rate of the growth,” Newsom said. A three-day decline “doesn’t necessarily make a trend...but it’s a modest indication of a possible sign of some good news.”
Yet the state’s worst surge is taking a horrendous toll that threatens to only worsen if people gather during the holidays.
California recorded the second-highest number of deaths, at 361. The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units nearly doubled in just three weeks, to 3,827 cases, while the state's overall ICU capacity fell to 1.1%, down from 2.5% just two days ago. The number in hospitals jumped to 18,828 patients, more than double since Dec. 1, with 605 new patients in one day.
Santa Clara County near San Francisco was down to 35 ICU beds, putting hospitals dangerously close to rationing care, said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, the county’s director of health care preparedness.
“We are talking about people in gurneys without a bed to go...