California Becomes New Epicenter In COVID-19 Pandemic With Record Deaths On New Year’s Day

California Becomes New Epicenter In COVID-19 Pandemic With Record Deaths On New Year’s Day.

The state of California had a grim start to the new year after reporting a record 585 deaths in a single day. On Friday, the number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million, nearly twice as many as the No. 2 country, India, and nearly one-quarter of the more than 83 million cases globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Ambulances waited hours for openings to offload coronavirus patients, overflow patients were moved to hospital hallways and gift shops, even a cafeteria. Refrigerated trucks were on standby, ready to store the dead.

For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from the pandemic. But by the time Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Dec. 15 that 5,000 body bags were being distributed, it was clear that the nation’s most populous state had entered a new phase of the COVID-19 crisis.

Now infections have been racing out of control for weeks, and California remains at or near the top of the list of states with the newest cases per capita. It has routinely set new marks for infections and deaths and began the new year reporting a record 585 deaths in a single day.

All hopes of recovery are pinned on the vaccination programme, but with millions still waiting for the jab it will be months not weeks until cases start to slowly drop.

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