California reported 115 deaths due to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, marking the “deadliest day” so far in the state’s fight to contain the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.
“Yesterday was the deadliest day for this virus in this state. 115 human beings lost their lives, families torn apart,” he said. “It’s also a reminder we’re not out of the woods yet.”
That’s an 8.5% increase compared to deaths from the day before, Newsom said, adding that there was a 5.6% increase in the number of people who tested positive. The number of hospitalizations and people in intensive care due to Covid-19 both dropped, he said.
The figures represent “some stabilization” of the outbreak in California, he said, “but with deaths and still positives going up, again, I caution people that we’re not out of the woods.”
Newsom urged the public to continue to practice social distancing to keep drive those figures further down. He added that he will not be swayed to lift the statewide stay-at-home order by an “expression of frustration,” but rather that the decision will be guided by data on the spread of the virus.
“We’re walking into a very warm weekend,” he said. “People are prone to want to go to the beaches, parks, playgrounds and go on a hike and I anticipate there will be significant increase in volume but I also think if there is and people aren’t practicing physical distancing, I’ll be announcing again these numbers going back up.”
