COVID-19 Hospitalizations in California Grew by 56% in Past 2 Weeks

California’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have grown by 56% in the past two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday, as the total number of hospitalizations has reached 5,355 patients, marking a new high for the state.

ICU hospitalizations have also grown by 49% over the past two weeks, making for a total of 1,676 ICU COVID-19 patients, as of Wednesday. Of the total 10,788 ICU beds in California, 3,451 ICU beds still available for use in the state, Newsom said, but those numbers only reflect the totals across the state and don’t necessarily reflect the individual capacities of hospitals.

With the upcoming Fourth of July holiday nearing, Newsom urged residents to wear face coverings and avoid gathering in large crowds.

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“We have to continue to fight this disease [and] do more and do better,” Newsom said. “We’re still in the first wave and we have a lot of work to do to mitigate the spread, to make sure that our hospital system is ready.”

On Wednesday, Newsom ordered 19 counties — including Los Angeles — to reverse course and shut down movie theaters and restaurants for at least the next three weeks due to the surge of COVID-19 cases. California now has a total of 240,195 confirmed COVID-19 cases and has reported 6,163 deaths; Los Angeles County surpassed 100,000 COVID-19 cases this week.

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