Coronavirus cases reach record high in California

California's seven-day daily average of new COVID-19 cases exploded to another record high Thursday, and the state reported triple-digit fatalities from the virus for the third consecutive day.

An average of more than 16,700 cases per day have been reported around the state over the past week, after county health departments reported another 21,228 on Thursday according to data compiled by this news organization. At about 16,768 per day, California is averaging more cases now than were reported on any day prior to last week. On Thursday, the state tallied at least 20,000 cases for the third time in the past two weeks; the total Thursday was second only to the record 21,511 reported on Monday.

The death toll in California grew by at least a hundred for the third straight day, reaching a cumulative total of 19,589. The 146 new victims of the virus were the state's most in a single day since the end of September; more Californians have perished in the past week — a total of 556, or an average of about 79 per day — than any other seven-day period since about the same time.

And, as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a looming stay-at-home order based on intensive care unit capacity, California's hospital beds filled to their highest point of the pandemic. A total of 8,831 COVID-positive patients are currently hospitalized around California, including 2,066 in ICUs, both record highs.

In the past two weeks, California's active hospitalizations have increased by 95%, and ICUs have filled by nearly 80%. The state is averaging 60% more new cases than it was two weeks ago; the spike Thursday can be attributed to replacing the Thanksgiving holiday case count in the equation with a normal reporting day.

As cases and hospitalizations rise, deaths have followed. The average daily death toll has increased 33% in the past two weeks, and doubled since the second week of November.

Los Angeles County set another daily record, with more than 7,600 new cases, and led the state with 42 newly reported fatalities. San Bernardino County recorded its third-highest daily case count of the pandemic, with nearly 2,500 on Thursday, and the 18 new deaths there ranked second in the state. Riverside County followed with 13 new fatalities, then Sacramento County with 12.

There were 18 new deaths from the virus reported around the Bay Area, including a local high of nine deaths in Santa Clara County. Santa Cruz County added four to its death toll, Alameda County added two, and Contra Costa, San Francisco and Marin counties each reported one death.

Santa Clara County reported its fourth-highest case count of the pandemic and led the region with 728 new cases; its daily average has increased 80% in the past two weeks. Alameda County reported its highest case count of the pandemic, with 650 on Thursday; the county's daily average is also up about 80% from two weeks ago.

Altogether, the 2,581 new cases around the Bay Area were the region's second-highest single-day total of the pandemic. For the first time, the region is now averaging more than 2,000 cases per day — 65% more than two weeks ago.

The Bay Area region is furthest from reaching the 15% threshold in ICU capacity that will trigger the new stay-at-home order, announced by Newsom on Thursday, but is still on pace to reach that mark by mid- to late-December. The rest of the state could see those new restrictions by next week.

Nationally, the U.S. has recorded its two highest daily death tolls of the pandemic in the past two days, according to data collected by the New York Times. After reporting 2,885 new fatalities Wednesday, the U.S. followed with 2,857 on Thursday, according to the Times' data.

There are no signs of the surge slowing down: the U.S. recorded its highest daily case count of the pandemic, with more than 216,000 on Thursday, and is averaging more than 180,000 new infections per day. And more Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19 than any other point of the pandemic, with an active count of over 100,000, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

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