Covid-19 Cases Hit Record Levels: December Update

As COVID-19 cases hit record levels in California, the government issued a strict lockdown starting December 6th that will last for at least three weeks in most regions. The lockdown is predicted to last until January 4th in the Bay Area due to the amount of cases in this province. In this particular region, there have been 170,808 cases and 2,037 deaths since the start of the pandemic. 

More than three-quarters of Californians are currently living under a strict lockdown as ordered by the state governor, Gavin Newsom. The districts are determined to go into lockdown when hospital intensive care unit beds in that region drop beneath 15%. Overall, California has reported more than 1.3 million cases. Hospitalizations have increased by 72% over the past two weeks, with more than 2,300 patients in the ICU. The state also has an average of about 22,000 new cases each day and hit a record of 30,000 new cases on December 6th. 

California also had a 10.5% seven-day positivity rate, meaning that in the past week, one in 10 Californians tested for coronavirus came back with positive results. This is extremely shocking, as the positivity rate was at 3.4% just 30 days ago. Health officials suspect that this increase is due to Thanksgiving celebrations, as it is possible that many people did not continue to practice safe social distancing and had large gatherings for this holiday. Officials also suspect that the positivity rate will worsen during the holiday season, which is why the lockdown was issued.  

With this lockdown in place, retail stores and other outdoor spaces such as beaches and parks are able to stay open, but only at 20% occupancy. Many other establishments such as restaurants, bars, hair and nail salons, tattoo shops, must close for the following weeks. While necessary, this lockdown will undoubtedly impact many institutions, namely small businesses.  Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, said that “we know that these various restrictions are a hardship for people… but we know some of them are required to make sure we get through the surge as quickly as possible and in saving as many lives and in preventing as many infections as we possibly can.” While it will prove to be challenging, the lockdown that the state has imposed is necessary. If no extreme measures are taken, the COVID-19 cases will continue to rise and prevent us from returning to normal life.