California recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 death toll Wednesday, with 149 fatalities reported, according to a Los Angeles Times county-by-county tally.
The previous high was recorded on May 19, according to The Times’ California coronavirus tracker, when 132 deaths were tallied.
For weeks, daily coronavirus deaths had remained steady even as the number of newly confirmed cases and hospitalizations have risen. It’s a trend experts believe occurred as California’s reopening accelerated in late May and people returned to pre-pandemic routines around Memorial Day, with some people not wearing masks in public and people returning to social gatherings.
But experts have feared that the daily death toll would start to climb eventually, catching up with the spikes in cases and hospitalizations. It can take three to four weeks after exposure to the virus for infected people to become sick enough to be hospitalized, and four to five weeks after exposure for people to die from the disease. Monday marked the sixth Monday after Memorial Day.
Los Angeles County on Wednesday recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll in a month. Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 60 new coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, and Long Beach — which has its own health office — reported one new death.
The combined total of 61 cases is the highest single-day death toll since June 2, when 62 deaths were reported across L.A. County, according to The Times’ California coronavirus tracker.
“Our cases are rising. The rate of infection is increasing. And the number of hospitalizations are up. And today, we’re even seeing a small increase in the number of deaths,” Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County director of public health, said Wednesday.
“Tragically, we do expect that more of our loved ones and our neighbors may die of COVID-19 in the coming weeks with all of the increases we’re seeing in hospitalizations.
“We are seeing a sharp increase in community transmission,” Ferrer added, pointing out that L.A. County is recording on average 2,400 new coronavirus cases a day; at this time in June, the county was tallying about 1,300 cases daily.
On Tuesday, there were 2,037 people hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections in L.A. County, a 38% increase from the Tuesday after Memorial Day, when 1,477 coronavirus-infected people were hospitalized. It was the third consecutive day the county has posted a record number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the pandemic hit California.
Statewide, the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations continued to march upward. Tuesday marked California’s 18th consecutive day of breaking the record for the number of hospitalized people with confirmed coronavirus infections.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said there were 6,100 people hospitalized with…
Read More:California records highest single-day coronavirus toll: 149 deaths
