Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 02, 2025

California officials alarmed by rate of infection

Despite severe ‘shelter in place’ and business-closing orders, state now confirms more than 3,200 cases, a rise of nearly 22 per cent in 24 hours. Health officials fear that trend puts California on a path similar to New York, the country’s worst-hit state

Confirmed cases of coronavirus in California swelled to 3,894 on Thursday, up from 2,662 – alarming state officials who say that the rate of infection is now on par with that of New York, the worst-hit state in the US.

At this rate, they added, cases could overwhelm hospitals in California’s largest cities in a matter of weeks.

“I suspect that it will get worse in California. I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t. The writing is on the wall,” Dr Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at the University of California San Francisco, said on Thursday.

“Hopefully we won’t see the kind of surge cases they’re seeing in New York right now where they’re running out of ventilators and ICU beds and having to open up stadiums and dormitories to house the ill,” he added.

By Thursday morning, with more than 1,200 additional cases confirmed, it appeared that the officials’ worst fears were being realised. The case numbers increased at a rate of more than 46 per cent, and if the trend continues, said San Francisco Mayor London Breed, her city will require at least 5,000 more hospital beds as well as 1,500 more ventilators.

In Los Angeles, the country’s second largest city, the situation was even more desperate.

“This will not kill most of us,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said, but “it will kill a lot more people than we're used to dying around us”.

California’s cases are still dwarfed by New York’s – 37,258 statewide, with more than 21,300 in New York City alone – and its 80 coronavirus-related deaths are only a fraction of New York’s 387. But it is the rate of infection that has alarm bells ringing on the West Coast.

According to Dr Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services and its chief medical adviser: “We originally thought that it would be doubling every six to seven days. [Now] we see cases doubling every three to four days.”

There is also concern that the numbers in California, the most populous US state with roughly 40 million, are much lower than New York’s because testing – while not extensive anywhere in the country – has been more comprehensive in New York.

New York surpassed 90,000 tests on Monday, with 10,000 people tested over a single night.

According to California Governor Gavin Newsom, the state has so far tested only 66,800 people. “It’s not good enough,” he said.
Chin-Hong echoed that frustration.

“We don’t even know what’s going on in our community. We don’t have enough diagnostic testing,” he said.
“We’re operating in a black box.”

Last week, in a letter seeking federal assistance, Newsom wrote that if the infection rate continued to climb, more than half of the state’s residents could become infected within two months – a staggering 25.5 million people, with as many as 5 million requiring hospitalisation. California was among the first three states to be designated national disaster areas by the federal government, along with New York and Washington.

Health experts now say that California’s response to the virus – shutting business, encouraging social distancing and putting much of the population on “shelter in place” lockdown – should lower those numbers considerably.

But the increase in infections seen in the last 24 hours shows just how far California must go to get the virus under control.

“The worst days are still ahead,” Garcetti said on Wednesday. “We’ve taken actions earlier and swifter [than other cities], but no one is immune from this virus.”

Meanwhile, Trump said just days ago that he hoped he could lift restrictions on people and businesses as soon as Easter on April 12.

“I’m a little bit outraged,” said Chin-Hong. “I get heart palpitations when I hear those comments. As somebody who knows public health and epidemiology as well as clinical medicine it just gives me shivers in a bad way.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
×