The county Health and Human Services Agency reported 5,922 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths on Friday, increasing the cumulative totals to 477,211 cases and 4,500 deaths.
According to county data, in the past month, confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped nearly tenfold – from around 4,700 per week to the more than 45,000 cases reported in the seven days from Dec. 29, 2021 through Tuesday.
The increase took place in just 30 days.
In response, to add testing facilities and expand capacity amid the surge driven by the Omicron variant, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the activation the California National Guard.
“California has led the country’s fight against COVID-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save tens of thousands of lives,” Newsom said. “We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity.”
The announcement came as Omicron continues to spread rapidly, accounting for at least 80% of COVID-19 cases in California.
Local COVID-19 hospitalizations have also more than doubled in the past 30 days, from 303 to 837, putting a strain on local hospitals that are contending with hundreds of employees unable to work after contracting the virus.
“We’re now seeing the highest local case counts of the pandemic. COVID-19 is everywhere,” said Dr. Wilma J. Wooten, county public health officer. “The best way to slow the spread of COVID-19 is to have as much immunity as possible and to take other precautions that we know work.”
Hospitalizations increased to 837 from 774, according to the latest state figures, up from 510 last Friday.
Of those patients, 156 were in intensive care, up nine from the previous day. The number of available ICU beds increased by 15 to 195.
Some COVID-positive patients may have been hospitalized for other reasons and had their COVID status discovered by hospital-mandated tests.
A total of 23,043 tests were reported Friday, and the seven-day average positivity rate was 25.8%, up from 25.4% on Thursday.
City News Service contributed to this article.
Updated 9:50 p.m. Jan. 7, 2022.
