California started the new year by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in a single day after a health official said the pandemic was pushing state hospitals to the “brink of catastrophe” as some medical centers scramble to provide oxygen for the critically ill.
The California Department of Public Health on Friday reported more than than 47,189 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to nearly 2.3 million. Nearly 26,000 people have died from the virus in the state.
The previous single-day record of 432 deaths was set on Tuesday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom's office announced California would begin collaborating with the Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate and upgrade outdated oxygen delivery systems at six Los Angeles area hospitals.
Assessments at hospitals could begin as early as Saturday, according to a statement from the governor's office.
The collaboration comes as older medical centers are having difficulty maintaining oxygen pressure in aging infrastructure and some were scrambling to locate additional oxygen tanks for discharged patients to take home.
“By working to upgrade challenged oxygen delivery systems at these older hospitals we can improve the ability to deliver life sustaining medical care to those who need it,” Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said in a statement Friday.
California on Thursday became the third state to exceed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic, behind New York with nearly 38,000 deaths and Texas with more than 27,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
In addition, San Diego County said it had confirmed a total of four cases involving a mutant variant of the coronavirus that appears to be much more contagious. Other cases have been confirmed in Florida and Colorado.
None of the men diagnosed with the strain in San Diego County had any known interaction with each other and at least three hadn’t traveled outside the country, leading public health officials to believe the new variant is “widespread in the community,” a county announcement said.
The county also ended 2020 by announcing a grim new death toll of 62, the single highest one-day figure since the pandemic began.
