California breaks single-day coronavirus death record, as fatalities rise 35 percent in a week

California broke its single-day record coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, reporting 295, according to the Los Angeles Times, a 35 percent increase since last week.

The Times report, based on a survey of local health agencies, notes that six counties — Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, Yolo, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz — broke records on Tuesday for daily coronavirus deaths.

The newspaper notes that the record was set just after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that state officials had been forced to purchase 5,000 body bags and 60 refrigerated storage units in order to store corpses.

“Let’s deal with some sober realities,” Newsom said Tuesday. “This is a deadly disease. And we need to be mindful of where we are in this current journey together to the vaccine: We are not at the finish line yet.”

California is now averaging 32,000 new coronavirus cases a day, the Times reports, and has so far recorded 21,500 deaths and nearly 1.65 million cases. 

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also risen, with 14,283 patients statewide as of Monday. The record for hospitalizations has been broken for 17 days straight, the Times notes, more than doubling since Thanksgiving.

In November, Newsom ordered a one-month lockdown to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Newsom said early in November that stay-at-home orders may go into effect in some regions of the state where available units in intensive care units fall below 15 percent.

The Times notes that as of Tuesday, the Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions reported 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent ICU availability, respectively, the lowest in the state.

Health experts in California pleaded with residents to stay home for the holidays this year.

“We cannot normalize this,” said Santa Clara County Public Health Department Director Sara Cody, who was essential in creating the state’s first stay-at-home order. “It’s become pretty clear that we do need to take more serious action. We need a statewide action to keep people from dying.”