California COVID Cases, Hospitalizations Continue Surge; Holiday Numbers Pending
SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- COVID cases in California have continued to surge according to new data from the state's public health officials, which did not take into account New Year's holiday weekend.
According to the California Department of Public Health's latest figures Monday, the state's current testing positivity rate (the average rate over the past seven days) was 15.9% up from 9.7% last week. Meanwhile there are 7,314 hospitalizations and 1,329 ICU patients statewide, a jump from 4,747 hospitalized and 1,071 ICU patients.
While cases and hospitalizations keep rising, the average number of deaths from COVID show a downward trend. Currently, the daily average of COVID deaths in California over a seven-day period stands at 45. There have been 75,847 COVID-19 deaths in the state since the start of the pandemic.
State public health data on COVID cases, deaths, and tests were last updated Dec. 31 with data from the previous day. The data from over the holiday weekend was to be updated on Tuesday.
From Dec. 13 to Dec. 19, unvaccinated people were 5.2 times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people, according to state public health data. In addition, those who are unvaccinated were 14.5 times more likely to be hospitalized (data from December 6-12) and 15 times more likely to die from COVID (data from Nov. 29-Dec. 5).
Health officials says 79.5% of the eligible population five years and older have been vaccinated against COVID, with a total of 65,013,522 vaccines administered.
Last week, California became the first state to record more than five million known coronavirus infections, although the state has fared far better than many other states in the Midwest and Northeast which have seen the biggest jump in cases and hospitalizations as frigid temperatures have kept people indoors.
