California reported some of the worst numbers from the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, setting another record for new cases and registering the second highest number of deaths in one day.
The state’s counties collectively reported 54,532 new cases, with nearly 3,000 more than the previous one-day record set a day earlier on Thursday. They also recorded 279 deaths, most of the pandemic in addition to the catastrophic count of 428 on Wednesday.
Both the state’s seven-day mean (40,254) and seven-day death mean (224.86) also hit new record highs Friday as California surpassed 1.8 million cumulative cases, according to data collected by this news organization.
The pandemic’s deadliest trajectory refuses to budge. Record-breaking days for counting cases have become commonplace in California over the past month, carving out a stark new reality every day and week.
And while the advent of vaccines in various parts of the state this week held the promise of safety for primary care health workers, it’s unclear to what extent vaccines will slow the transmission of COVID-19.
Still, the Californians got some good news Saturday when Moderna began distributing millions of doses of its own vaccine nationwide. California expects to receive 672,000 doses of the vaccine, which hospitals are prioritizing primary care health workers from the start.
The Bay Area reported 4,640 new cases and 62 new deaths on Friday, both figures marking the pandemic’s second-highest one-day totals, with record days being recorded earlier this week.
Together, the 10 provinces that make up the region have now seen 210,133 cases of coronavirus.
Santa Clara County continues to lead the number of cases and deaths, with 1,471 new cases and 17 new fatalities on Friday. San Mateo County registered 15 deaths, by far the highest number from the pandemic, while Alameda County saw 11, the second highest number after Wednesday.
On Friday, Bay Area residents received telephone reports that the region had entered into house arrest, although many counties in the region had voluntarily passed home stay restrictions weeks earlier.
The order, which went into effect Thursday at 11:59 PM, imposes state restrictions – including outdoor dining bans and indoor sales capacity restrictions – for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo , Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties.
It arrived after availability of the Bay Area’s ICU bed fell below the state’s 15% threshold for new restrictions. At the end of Friday, the region’s availability was 12.8% according to state data.
As the death toll continues to rise – the state has recorded the first, second, third and fourth deadliest days of the pandemic in the past week – officials have set up new mobile facilities and started handing out thousands of body bags.
Despite the Bay Area’s stark status, other regions in the state have comparatively fewer beds to offer new COVID-19 patients.
The availability of ICU beds in both the Southern California and San Joaquin regions was 0.0% Friday, according to state data, although that doesn’t mean hospitals in the region cannot provide IC care. It does mean that the quality of care will decline and that healthcare providers will be tense to keep up with patient burden.
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties continue to pile up business in Southern California, averaging 206.9 and 134.5 cases per 100,000 residents, respectively.
Meanwhile, the availability of ICU beds in the Sacramento area, hovering around the California threshold, was 14.5% at the end of Friday. But under the rules, the region will remain under the state housing order for at least three weeks before restrictions can be relaxed again.