County health officials around California reported more deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday than any single day since the outbreak began. And while the surge wasn’t fueled by the Bay Area, the region wasn’t spared, either.
The death toll in the state rose to 1,433, while the number of confirmed cases climbed to 37,679, according to data compiled by this news organization. The 117 new deaths makes it the deadliest 24-hour reporting period since the state began tracking deaths from COVID-19.
The state has also added more new cases each of the past three days than any prior 24-hour period. With another 1,877 newly reported cases Wednesday, California’s case count has grown by nearly 20% since the week began. It has added more cases and deaths this week than last, but the rate of growth has slowed slightly overall.
The Bay Area’s worst day of the crisis came the previous Wednesday, but the region saw its second-deadliest day this Wednesday. That pattern echoed across the state, which has set morbidity records each of the past three Wednesdays, likely reflecting delays in reporting over the weekend.
Another 20 Bay Area residents succumbed to the virus according to reports released Wednesday, bringing the death toll among its 10 counties and some 8 million people to 240. Los Angeles County, with about 25% more people, has three times the number of deaths. LA County alone reported 66 new fatalities Wednesday, more than half the state’s overall increase.
The hardest-hit county in the Bay Area, Santa Clara, neared 100 deaths as it retroactively added to its count, including one as far back as Feb. 6, the first known fatality in the U.S.
“This means there was some significant degree of virus transmission in early February, probably late January, and who knows how much earlier,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s health officer.
But as the death toll grows, the rate of new cases has slowed significantly in Santa Clara County. Its case count has increased by about 9% in the past week, the slowest rate of any Bay Area county.
The hardest-hit county in the state, Los Angeles, has seen its number of cases rise 56.5% since last Wednesday and its death toll nearly double. Even as the state’s most populous county, home to 10 million people, Los Angeles has the highest per-capita death rate in the state, 7.26 fatalities per 100,000 residents. On Wednesday, San Mateo (5 per 100,000) passed Santa Clara (4.8) in the Bay Area.
But health officials have said it is likely many more have been infected or died without being diagnosed. It’s difficult to diagnose the virus’ toll on the state without widespread testing to diagnose the virus itself.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that the state had conducted 460,000 tests and had increased its capacity to 16,000 per day. But that is still short of his goal of 25,000 daily tests by the end of the month and an eventual capacity of 60,000 to 80,000, which he called one of the key metrics for reopening the state.