Breaking: Democrat-Run California Becomes First State to Cross 600,000 COVID Cases

Democrats like to blame President Trump and Republicans for the poor handling of Coronavirus.

But the reality is that the hardest hit states are run by Democrats.

According to the New York Times, Democrat-run California appears to now be the epicenter of the US-outbreak:

California on Thursday became the first state to surpass 600,000 reported coronavirus cases since the virus arrived at the beginning of the year, a New York Times database shows. With more than 10,800 fatalities, the state now ranks third in the country for the worst death toll, behind New York and New Jersey, which were overwhelmed with cases in the spring but have since managed to contain the virus’s spread.

Along with the Sun Belt states, California has been among the hardest hit in the summer resurgence of the virus, but the picture in California appears to have begun improving lately. Citing a 19 percent decline in the number of people hospitalized over the past two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that the state was “turning the corner on this pandemic.”

By far the most populous state in the country, California has not been among the most severely affected states by the virus on a per-capita basis: It ranks 20th in cases and 28th in deaths when gauged that way, according to the Times database.

After California’s disease reporting system broke down on July 25, the omission of around 300,000 files from the state’s main database muddied the picture of the virus’s progression in the state. But that problem has now been rectified, state officials say, and the higher numbers of cases reported this week are a result of entering the backlog of cases into the system.

California has seesawed through the pandemic. It was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order, back in mid-March when it was reporting about 116 new cases a day, and it came to be seen as a national role model for how to confront the pandemic.

But when the state started to reopen two months later, it was logging an average of 1,833 new cases a day — and over the past week, the daily figure has averaged around 8,000, including the backlogged cases.

Public health officials have said the state reopened too soon. In an effort to contain the spread, Governor Newsom issued a statewide mask order on June 18, followed two weeks later by an order to close bars and indoor dining down again. Those settings have proved to be super-spreader sites in several other states.

The state has hardly reopened compared to most red states.

The reality is that as much as the media likes to criticize Republicans, the blue states have generally had worse numbers compared to red states.

California is proof that the Democrats and the media should not be politicizing the pandemic.

Instead, we should be working together to slow the spread and research a potential vaccine.

The LA Times confirms:

California has become the first state in the nation to surpass 600,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.

As of Friday evening, there were more than 609,000 recorded cases. The state also has reported over 11,000 deaths.

Yet despite the grim numbers, there is growing evidence that the surge in infections and fatalities that began when California reopened its economy in May is beginning to slow.

In Los Angeles County, the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus is now about 0.86 — meaning that every one infected person passes the virus to an average of 0.86 other people. Last week, the rate was at 0.91.

And statewide, an ensemble computer model known as the California COVID Assessment Tool estimates California’s overall transmission rate is about 0.96.

When asked about the 600,000-case milestone during a news briefing Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he and his administration are more concerned with the state’s positivity rate — the proportion of people who test positive for the virus of all who have been tested — which currently sits at about 6.2%.

“That gives us a better sense of what’s really happening in terms of the community spread,” he said.

Newsom acknowledged that California’s efforts to ramp up its COVID-19 testing capabilities will logically increase the number of new infections that are uncovered. Over the last week, the state has conducted an average of about 137,000 daily tests, he said.

But, he added, “we’re not shying away from that; we’re not playing to the political frame that somehow tests are bad because they will, by definition, show a higher count of total number of positives.”

California has been known for its strict measures.

For example, many churches are still not allowed to meet.

During the BLM riots, LA County experienced widespread curfews.

Yet... despite this, California is now leading the nation in COVID cases.