California breaks daily record with more than 8,000 new COVID-19 cases

California recently broke its record for the highest number of COVID-19 cases counted in a single day after more than 8,100 new cases of the disease were reported in the state this past Monday. 

According to the Mercury News, the state on Monday recorded 8,184 cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The latest data from the California Department of Public Health shows over 222,900 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the state overall.

The newspaper reported the figure from this past Monday is a 25 percent increase from the daily totals recorded on any past Monday in the state, which is now reportedly seeing an average of 5,000-plus new cases daily.

The rate at which coronavirus tests have been returning with positive results in the past week has also increased to 5.9 percent, which is reportedly 1.3 percent higher than the rate recorded a couple of weeks back.

Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the public health director for Los Angeles County, which reportedly saw about 3,000 new cases on Monday, told the paper that “alarming increases in cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations signals that we, as a community, need to take immediate action to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

“Otherwise, we are quickly moving toward overwhelming our healthcare system and seeing even more devastating illness and death,” she continued.

Amid a spike in cases reported in the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced over the weekend that his office will be ordering bars to close in seven counties, including Los Angeles County, and recommending bar closures in eight others. 

“COVID-19 is still circulating in California, and in some parts of the state, growing stronger. That’s why it is critical we take this step to limit the spread of the virus in the counties that are seeing the biggest increases,” Newsom said on Sunday. 

Newsom also said later on Tuesday that, later this week, his office will be making some announcements related to coronavirus restrictions after the state broke its record for daily cases the day before. 

“Tomorrow we’ll be making some additional announcements on efforts to use that dimmer switch that we’ve referred to, and begin to toggle back on our stay-at-home order and tighten things up,” Newsom said Tuesday afternoon, according to KTLA5.

“The framework for us is this: if you’re not going to stay home and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce, and we will,” Newsom added.