NEWS: California Reports Highest Single-Day Count of New COVID Cases in a U.S. State

The global health crisis continues to affect tens to hundreds of thousands of Americans a day.

Vaccine Arrival in California ©LAX Airport via Twitter (@flyLAXairport)

In response to health and safety concerns, Governor Gavin Newsom has put strict restrictions on theme park reopenings. Now, the state has set a new record for daily COVID-19 cases.

Today, California’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 53,711 new cases over the previous 24-hour period. California’s previous recent daily counts were in the low-30,000s. This new count is the highest single daily count of virus infections ever recorded by a U.S. state.

©LA Times

According to Deadline, “A big jump in one day can be attributed to a backlog of cases from the weekend. The state’s biggest county, Los Angeles, did in fact report 7,000 backlogged cases. But that county’s remaining 14,000-plus cases still represent its highest one-day total of the pandemic.”

Deadline notes that other states’ highest-ever daily new case counts are not even half the new California tally, even excluding California’s 7,000 backlogged cases. The 53,711 cases equal 3% of the entire virus caseload California has seen since its first case.

Hollywood Sign

The daily COVID-19-related death record increased too. The previous high was recorded last Friday at 225 deaths. Today’s count was 293 deaths and it may continue to rise in the coming days. ICU capacity in some parts of California has fallen extremely low. Last night, Southern California had just 0.5% of ICU beds left.

We’ll continue to check in on the situation in California. Stay safe. We’re thinking of you all. ❤️