California recorded its largest ever single-day surge in coronavirus cases Monday with more than 8,000 new infections documented.
Monday’s tally of infections broke California’s daily record for the third time in eight days. The recent troubling virus spike is said to have been caused by crowds gathering for Memorial Day celebrations on beaches and in bars all over the state last month.
The state is now on course to double its number of coronavirus cases in June over those it recorded in May, according to analysis by the LA Times.
Across the entirety of May, there were 61,666 cases reported in the state of California. By the close of Monday night, 114,119 cases had been reported in the first 28 days of June.
In total, the state has now recorded 216,550 cases of COVID-19, with the death toll now fast-approaching 6,000.
The virus has rapidly spread through communities in the state over the last few weeks as the economy reopened, with residents flocking back to bars, restaurants and other familiar haunts in search for a sense of normalcy after months of lockdown.
The enormous surge in cases since has prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to order anyone traveling to the state from California, along with 15 other states, to self-quarantine for 14 days on Tuesday.
Monday’s tally of infections broke California’s daily record for the third time in eight days. The recent troubling virus spike is said to have been caused by Memorial Day celebrations on beaches and in bars all over the state last month
Beach goers cross Pacific Coast Highway Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif
The virus has rapidly spread through communities in the state over the last few weeks as the economy reopened, with residents flocking back to bars, restaurants and other familiar haunts in search for a sense of normalcy after months of lockdown
Research by the Times indicates that Memorial Day celebrations are likely the cause of the virus’ renewed momentum.
Hospitalizations in the state began accelerating around June 15 – just over two weeks after Memorial Day – at a rapid pace not witnessed since the virus’ first peak in early April.
The daily number of those hospitalized with COVID-19 has now jumped more than 50 percent from when the virus stabilized in mid-April.
Several Counties have since reported that their hospitals are close to breaking point. In Riverside, officials report that 99 percent of its intensive care unit beds are currently occupied.
LA County is now predicting it will run out of its existing supply of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in the next two to three weeks. Intensive care unit beds, meanwhile, are expected to be overwhelmed sometime in July.
And experts have warned that the worst is still yet to come. Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert at UCLA, told the Times that it can take two weeks for COVID-19 to incubate in the body, and an additional week or more after that to result in hospitalization among the vulnerable.
Kim-Farley said that this means even more people may have been exposed to the virus around the week of Memorial Day, or just after, who are still yet to suffer the full effects of it.
Officials are now warning that 1 in 140 residents are probably unknowingly infected with the virus and contagious to others, a dramatic increase in last week’s projection of 1 in 400.
Hospitalizations in the state began accelerating around June 15 – just over two weeks after Memorial Day – at a rapid pace not witnessed since the virus’ first peak in early April
Officials are now warning that 1 in 140 residents are probably unknowingly infected with the virus and contagious to others, a dramatic increase in last week’s projection of 1 in 400
Additionally, health officials say that on the weekend after June 19 – when bars, breweries and wineries were given the greenlight to reopen in LA County – more than 500,000 people flocked to the nightlife spots.
Inspectors with the health department found that over the course of that weekend, employees of around half the bars and restaurants in the county were not wearing face masks or any other kind of protective covering. Half of bars and one-third of restaurants were also found not to be adhering to social distancing protocols.
Officials anticipated the possibility of a spike in cases with a resurgence in activity, but say they weren’t prepared for how quickly the jump would actually occur.
‘What we didn’t expect was to see this steep an increase this quickly,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a Monday statement.
Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars in L.A. County and four other counties in the San Joaquin Valley to close immediately on Sunday because of the increasing case numbers.
‘We’ve been very clear — this shouldn’t surprise anybody watching — as you reopen the economy, as we move away and make the meaningful modifications which we did to our stay-at-home order, you’re going to see people mixing that were not mixing in the past,’ Newsom said during a news conference Monday.
Then on Tuesday, the governor announced the state will be making additional efforts to ‘toggle back’ its reopening efforts, which are set to be unveiled tomorrow.
Wednesday’s announcement will include instructions for the upcoming July 4th weekend, where Newsom said gatherings are of a major concern. Beaches have already been closed in LA over the holiday weekend, with other counties likely to follow suit.
‘If you’re not going to stay home and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce [rules],’ Newsom said.
The county has also banned fireworks displays over the July 4 weekend.
Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars in L.A. County and four other counties in the San Joaquin Valley to close immediately on Sunday because of the increasing case numbers
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva tweeted that his department would be enforcing beach parking violations across the weekend, with officers patrolling the area. A day earlier, Villanueva told Fox News he wouldn’t be enforcing beach closures because his office is ‘care first, jail last’. He also said he wasn’t consulted on the decision to close beaches in LA
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva tweeted that his department would be enforcing beach parking violations across the weekend, with officers patrolling the area.
‘.@LASDHQ advises the beaches are CLOSED Fri, Jul 3-Mon Jul 6,’ the sheriff tweeted. ‘Enforcement efforts will be focused on vehicle & penal code violations, beach parking lot closures, & street parking restrictions. @LASDHQ beach patrol will be patrolling the county beaches to ensure public safety.’
A day earlier, Villanueva told Fox News he wouldn’t be enforcing beach closures because his office is ‘care first, jail last’. He also said he wasn’t consulted on the decision to close beaches in LA.
Officials are urging residents to only spend time in person with members of their households, to avoid crowds and follow social distancing rules. Health officials say they’re also bracing themselves for another surge in hospitalizations from those already exposed to the virus.
‘It’s a luxury to shelter in place,’ Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of UC San Francisco’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics told the Times. ‘We have to think about how we open and minimize risk. We’re going to be living with this virus for a long time.’