Coronavirus: COVID-19
death toll surpasses 500 in California,
19,000-plus confirmed cases
Coronavirus: According to data compiled by this news organization, more than 500 Californians have died after contracting COVID-19
More than 500 people in the state of California who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus have now died.
According to data compiled by this news organization, the statewide death toll reached 503 on Wednesday and there are now 19,001 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. The data is updated based on the latest numbers released by county health departments around the state.
More than 4,000 of the confirmed cases and 116 of the COVID-19-related deaths have been reported by the 10 Bay Area counties, where a combined 8 million of California’s 39.7 million residents reside.
The number of confirmed cases in California counted by the Bay Area News Group grew by 1,503 on Wednesday, which represents an 8.6 percent increase from data compiled at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The number of deaths increased from 447 to 503, representing an 11 percent spike.
Since Monday evening, the number of COVID-19-related deaths counted by this news organization has increased from 387 to 503, meaning nearly one quarter (23 percent) of the coronavirus deaths have occurred in the last 48 hours.
County health departments have not provided data on the number of patients who have fully recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.
Despite the significant increase in the statewide death toll, Gov. Gavin Newsom has struck an optimistic tone at press briefings over the last two days, noting that Californians are “bending” and “stretching” the coronavirus curve. The governor has reiterated the importance of physical and social distancing in order to buy the state valuable time to prepare for a surge in coronavirus patients in hospitals.
“That curve continues to rise, just not at the slope that was originally projected without the kind of interventions, these non-pharmaceutical interventions like physical distancing have provided,” Newsom said Tuesday.
The California Department of Public Health began releasing additional data Wednesday that allows officials to analyze the number of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 on the basis of race. Gov. Newsom said the state now has racial and ethnic data for nearly 40 percent of the patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus and the data tracks “modestly so along the lines of total population.”
The state’s Department of Public Health is also providing data on the number of health care workers who have contracted COVID-19. According to data updated on Tuesday, local health departments have reported 1,651 confirmed positive cases in healthcare workers, including 299 who acquired COVID-19 in a healthcare setting.
The Department of Public Health says the specific exposure source has not been reported more than half of the healthcare workers who have tested positive.
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