California has recorded the lowest coronavirus case rate in the United States after months of struggling with the infection, leaving thousands of residents dead and filling up hospitals with patients.
Officials said while the low case rate does not decrease the effects of the winter holiday case surge, it shows the results of the state’s efforts. The decreasing number of cases comes as California’s economy slowly begins to reopen.
Lowest Case Rates
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed the state’s latest seven-day rate of new COVID-19 cases was 32.5 per 100,000 people. Hawaii recorded the second-lowest at 36.8 as the whole country is at 114.7.
For several weeks, California has maintained its position of having one of the lowest case rates in the United States before finally coming out on top. Officials reported an average of 1,901 new cases per day in the last week. The number is a 34% reduction from two weeks ago.
Since last spring, California has not recorded consistently low case rates until now. Across the state, 1,730 patients have been hospitalized on Sunday. Out of the infections, 403 were placed into intensive care. While the numbers may be high, they are some of the lowest in the country.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said he expected enough residents would be vaccinated by October to dramatically reduce the transmissibility of the virus. He urged people to continue following safety guidelines to reduce the chances of getting infected.
Ghaly said California would generally resume reopening most of what it was forced to close down at the beginning of the pandemic by this fall. However, he said there will still be restrictions left in place, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“This is a sneaky virus that will try to mutate,” Ghaly said of the looming threat of the virus variants, which have slowly been making their way across the world.
