Santa Clara County reported its 100,000th case of COVID-19 on Friday, crossing the tragic milestone as the average number of new cases in California continued to decline from the record highs set during a winter surge that started in early November.
California counties reported 20,138 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, according to data tracked by this news organization. The state now has a seven-day average of 21,492 — a 52 percent decline from a recent peak of 44,629 average daily cases set on Jan. 10. California has reported nearly 3.3 million cases, a number that doesn’t include infections that go untested.
Los Angeles County, the largest and hardest-hit in county California, reported the most new cases on Friday with 6,452. Riverside County reported 1,805 cases and San Diego County 1,670 cases, followed by Orange, San Bernardino and Santa Clara counties.
The number of patients hospitalized or in intensive care unit beds with confirmed cases of COVID-19 has also been declining from early-January peaks. Hospitalizations declined 3.4 percent on Thursday from the preceding day to 15,705. That’s down 28 percent from an early January high. ICU usage also declined by 1.2 percent on Thursday, to 4,145 patients. That’s down 15 percent from its early January peak.
While case and hospitalization numbers have been trending down, the number of Californian dying from COVID-19 remained near record-highs — deaths usually lag behind cases. On Friday, California reported 641 fatalities from the virus and now has a seven day average of 546 daily deaths. The state’s death average had reached as low as 39 on Nov. 12, before the winter surge. On Friday, California reached 40,186 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Los Angeles County again led the way in deaths, with 225 fatalities on Friday, then Orange County with 107 and San Diego County with 37. That was followed by Riverside, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County’s 766 new cases on Friday brought it to a total of 100,468 — the first county in the region to reach that number. The county also reported 30 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of 1,344 fatalities since the start of the pandemic. Alameda County reported 518 new cases and 22 deaths for a total of 73,115 cases and 959 deaths. Contra Costa County reported 323 cases and three deaths, for a total of 56,575 cases and 528 deaths.
San Mateo County reported 277 cases and 26 deaths for a total of 35,235 cases and 382 deaths. San Francisco reported 140 new cases and nine deaths for a total of 30,814 cases and 317 deaths.
California has also administered 3,078,250 vaccine doses as of Thursday, 65 percent of the doses the state has shipped to local health departments, health systems and state agencies.
