As the president continues his campaign to try to get as many of his ardent supporters infected as possible, one rally at a time, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in the U.S. this week, with major hot spots emerging right where Republican governors' stupidity has predictably resulted in needless infections.
Bay Area uptick: Health officers warned that we would see cases tick up after gradual reopening steps were happening across the Bay Area. Following several weeks in which more retail and restaurants have been open in different counties, the Bay Area saw one of its most significant jumps in confirmed cases Monday — 704, or an uptick of 3.6%, more than double the daily average for the previous four weeks. Hospitalizations are also ticking up, with the Bay Area recording an 8% jump in COVID patients so far today. And San Francisco saw (See all the current Bay Area stats here.)
Cases rise in Marin, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and Sonoma counties: Late last week, Contra Costa County was placed on a state watch list over a rise in hospitalizations there. And a major outbreak of COVID cases at San Quentin State Prison — over 300 and counting — has helped to boost Marin County's confirmed case tally, which has gone up an average of 4.5% daily since June 1, and 6.7% daily in the last seven days. Santa Clara added 121 new cases today, the greatest single-day increase there since the pandemic began after over a month of ebb compared to other nearby counties. Sonoma County has also seen a modest rise in cases, possibly due to more widely available testing, with an average 2.9% uptick in the last seven days — hospitalizations remain low, with only 4 currently.
Shasta County man spreads COVID at "large family gathering": A man in his 20s spread the coronavirus to at least 12 people at a party in Shasta County in recent weeks. He found out he was COVID-positive, and subsequently 20 people at the party were instructed to self-quarantine and get tested. The county only has 85 confirmed cases to date, however the numbers appear to be rising swiftly in the month of June. [SFGate]
California sees biggest single-day rise: Monday marked the biggest single-day rise in confirmed COVID cases in the state, with over 6,000, crushing a previous record set on June 21 of 4,515. Monday is a day when many counties catch up on recording patient data from the weekend, which partly accounts for sharper rises early in the week. And officially the state says that hospitalizations are mostly stable with "a slight uptick in the 14-day average." Still, Governor Gavin Newsom made a point to note the 16 percent rise in hospitalized patients recorded Monday.
Dr. Fauci warns the next two weeks are "critical": Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today and in defiance of Trump, encouraged all public officials to wear masks in public to set an example. He further noted the "very troublesome" rise in cases in Florida, Texas, Arizona — all led by Republican governors who have been dismissive of pandemic protocols — and reassured lawmakers that testing would continue to increase, despite Trump's comments in Tulsa that he wished the U.S. would do less testing. Fauci did say he was optimistic that a vaccine might be ready by late 2020 or early 2021. He noted that while the number of deaths had slowed nationwide, "deaths always lag considerably behind cases," and it was too soon to call this a significant trend. The U.S. case total stands at over 2.3 million, and ticks up between 1 and 2 percent per day. [New York Times]
The E.U. is considering banning all travelers from the U.S.: As air travel to Europe restarts and borders reopen this summer, E.U. officials are compiling a list of countries of origin from which travelers will be banned, based on their responses to the pandemic. That list will likely include the U.S. alongside Brazil and Russia. [New York Times]
