The coronavirus continues to rampage through California at a record rate, prompting the state to reimpose restrictions not seen since the early days of the pandemic in a bid to beat back the accelerating surge.
Statewide, 13,422 new coronavirus cases were reported Thursday — breaking the single-day record for the second time this week. The previous high-water mark — 13,412 — was set Monday, according to an independent county-by-county tally conducted by The Times.
California has now recorded four consecutive days with at least 10,600 newly confirmed coronavirus cases, a stretch unlike any in the pandemic. Over the last week, the state has averaged 10,529 new cases per day, a 117% increase from two weeks ago.
And those skyrocketing case counts aren’t mere numbers on a spreadsheet. Authorities anticipate that roughly 12% of those who test positive will end up in hospitals two to three weeks later.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by 63.6% over the last 14 days, hitting 4,523, according to Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s health and human services secretary. The number of patients in intensive care — 1,155 — is 40.5% higher than two weeks ago.
Given the current number of daily cases, “that means in 2½ weeks, 1,200 individuals could be hospitalized with COVID,” Ghaly said during a briefing Thursday, and “you can see how that number adds up.”
“It could mean a serious challenge on our entire healthcare delivery system, and not just the beds and the buildings, but the staff,” he said.
As cases and hospitalizations rise, officials have said they expect the number of fatalities to climb also. California reported 108 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday — the first triple-digit figure since Oct. 21 — and 93 more on Thursday, according to data compiled by The Times.
California has averaged 60 daily deaths over the last week, pushing the state’s overall toll above 18,500.
With the virus becoming more widespread statewide, “activities that you normally do are higher risk today than they were a month ago,” Ghaly said.
“We’ve seen reports of people saying, ‘Well, I haven’t changed my behavior. I was doing the same thing a month ago,’” he said. “Well, today, because the background transmission rate, the level of COVID in our communities, is higher, even our everyday activities become higher risk. And we must be resolved to put up our protective guards even more than we usually do.”
In the face of mushrooming case counts and steadily swelling hospitalizations, officials and experts emphasize that residents should double down on measures that can help keep them from getting infected — including wearing masks in public, practicing good hand hygiene, staying home when sick and keeping physical distance from, as well as avoiding gatherings with, those they don’t live with.
Though officials have repeatedly preached that personal responsibility is vital in the battle against COVID-19, the state this week also unveiled a host of new restrictions aimed at turning back the tide of new infections.
California announced Thursday it will impose a mandatory overnight stay-at-home order that will prohibit most nonessential activity outside the home from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in counties that are in the most restrictive category of the state’s reopening plan, the purple tier.
Roughly 94% of Californians, 37 million people, live in the 41 counties that are currently in that tier.
The order goes into effect Saturday and lasts through Dec. 21, though it could be extended.
“We hope today’s actions, our collective coming together, our resolve to keep our protective behaviors up, will help us stem the tide and bring these surging numbers down very, very soon,” Ghaly said.
Though the hope is to avoid even more dramatic action in the future, Ghaly acknowledged that “all tools are on the table.”
“COVID can go from 0 to 60 very quickly,” he said. “And it has.”
Ahead of the state’s move, officials in Los Angeles County announced additional local efforts aimed at curbing the coronavirus.
Starting Friday, the county will order restaurants and nonessential stores to close to the public from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. — though they can continue to offer takeout and delivery service during those hours — and cap the number of people allowed at outdoor gatherings at 15, from no more than three households.
The new restrictions took effect the day after L.A. County recorded 4,943 new cases, the most it has seen in any one day since the pandemic began, according to The Times’ coronavirus tracker.
“At this point, no one should still be underestimating the spread of this virus, nor should anyone be questioning the actions we still need to slow the spread and lessen its impact on our collective health and our local economy,” the county health officer, Dr. Muntu Davis, said during a briefing.
Should the county’s case counts or hospitalization numbers climb too high, officials have warned they may impose additional business restrictions — or even issue a new local stay-at-home order.
Davis acknowledged that “it’s difficult to go through these things,” but said the coronavirus conditions should be a clarion call for residents and businesses to redouble their infection prevention efforts.
“If people were really all following the things that needed to be done, we may not be in this place; we probably wouldn’t be in this place where we have this number of cases or have to take these actions,” he said Thursday. “So, really, everybody has to do their part and forget the idea that this is a hoax. It’s not.”
Warning bells are also going off in Santa Clara County, where officials said they are on pace to potentially exceed their hospital capacity in three weeks.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, officials there urged residents to abstain from traveling for the holiday — and not to view testing as a means to gather with those outside their household or engage in other unsafe activities.
“A negative result does not mean someone has a pass to put themselves and others at risk,” Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county’s COVID-19 testing officer, said in a statement. “People who test negative can still be carriers of the virus but be in an early stage of infection. It’s critically important that you not travel during this time of heightened COVID-19 risk.”
Times staff writers Phil Willon and Taryn Luna contributed to this report.