/

California Records Drastically Lower Weekly Positivity Rate for COVID-19

3 mins read

California officials reported 67,859 new coronavirus cases for the duration of last week ending on Sunday, a number that is drastically lower than previous statistics and is a 27.6% drop from 93,718 infections recorded the week before.

A USA Today Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data showed California was listed 25th among the states where the coronavirus spread the quickest on a per-person basis.

Dropping COVID-19 Cases

The United States announced 632,914 confirmed coronavirus cases in the last week, a drop of 22.9% from the week before. Three states around the country have had more COVID-19 infections in the last seven days than they had in the previous week.

In California, 47 counties recorded a drastic drop in cases, with the most significant declines being seen in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego counties.

A USA Today Network analysis of COVID-19 Tracking Project data revealed California’s test results that returned positive were at 3.7% in the last week, compared to 5.4% the week before. Officials were able to conduct 1,708,895 tests last week. The previous week saw 1,715,304 tests being administered.

While many experts believe the volume of tests was a good sign, the positivity rate was much more important and must be prioritized. It would allow authorities to have a better understanding of the spread of the virus and how to counter it.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said regions should be conducting sufficient tests to record less than 5% as positive returns. Areas with a higher percentage rate could fail to complete contact tracing in time to prevent the virus from spreading too quickly.

The worst per-person weekly outbreaks in California were observed in Kern, Colusa, and Inyo counties. Los Angeles County, with 20,069 cases, added the most new cases overall, while San Diego County had 5,686 cases and 5,244 cases in Riverside County.

Ten counties in the region reported more cases this week than the last. San Bernardino, Yuba, and Tuolumne counties had the worst surge of new cases before last week’s rates.

During last week up until Sunday, 2,902 fatalities related to the coronavirus were reported in California. The week before that, the death count was at 3,227, Record Searchlight reported.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 3,485,841 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, 47,057 of which have died, according to the data from Johns Hopkins University. Across the country, there are a total of 27,640,282 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with a total death toll of 485,336.

Danielle Joyce Ong

Danielle is a local journalist with a passion for exploring stories related to crime and politics. When Danielle isn't busy writing or reading, she is usually exploring the great outdoors and all the hiking trails in the Bay.