The state’s grim new milestone – 2,002,494 fallen late Wednesday – comes as ICUs are near or at full capacity statewide.
California hit 1 million cases on Nov. 12, and it took less than six weeks for the state to add another million cases. Considering the state population of 39.5 million, about one in 20 people in California have tested positive for the virus.
In total, the US reported 228,131 new cases of the coronavirus and 3,359 new deaths on Wednesday, the third most deaths in one day. That’s a devastating “normal” for the US, which has seen an average of about 215,000 new cases and more than 2,700 new deaths per day in the past week.
As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to increase across the country, this achievement comes at a critical time and will help protect those on the front lines – our healthcare providers treating COVID-19 patients – as well as our most vulnerable: elderly individuals who live in nursing and assisted living facilities, ”said CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield.
The vaccinations can’t come too early for California. The state’s 7-day positivity rate is now at 12.6%, a slight drop from previous weeks. However, 55 of California’s 58 counties remain in the most restrictive purple layer of the state’s Covid-19 reopening system, resulting in the closure of many non-essential indoor operations.
Gavin Newsom has attributed the recent rise in the number of cases to people who have relaxed their physical efforts to distance themselves and get together with people outside their household, especially during the holidays.
In total, 23,558 Californians have died of complications from the disease since the start of the pandemic.
More than 1 million vaccines administered
Just over a week since the first vaccine against Covid-19 was approved, more than 1 million people have received their first injection.
That reported number is lower than the actual number because many doses administered in recent days are not yet to be included in the CDC’s numbers, the agency said.
“It has been a big week of vaccine delivery,” General Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, told reporters Wednesday. “More than 7,800 deliveries by the end of tomorrow as we deliver the 7.9 million doses of vaccine allocated for this week across the country – a truly amazing achievement.”
Perna said about 15.5 million doses of vaccine have been assigned and another 4.5 to 5 million next week.
“We will complete those deliveries in the first week of January,” he said.
In addition, health professionals have found that the Pfizer vaccine, a frozen solution diluted with saline before giving to humans, can yield more than the five doses initially thought.
As such, Perna said the additional kits shipped with the vaccine will be customized with additional supplies to allow for a possible sixth dose.
“We have adapted our contract and construction of the kits to provide … even more possibilities as we go further,” Perna said Wednesday.
He noted that there was already a little “extra capacity” built into the kits, and that currently most vaccine administration takes place in hospitals “where they have access to syringes and needles accordingly.”
“So feel very comfortable with the availability of syringes and needles and our ability to assemble these kits and continue to distribute the kits simultaneously with the vaccine,” he said.
CNN’s Alexandra Meeks, Andrea Kane, Holly Yan and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.