California COVID-19 Cases Top 2 Million, Worse Than Italy and Spain

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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California COVID-19 Cases Top 2 Million, Worse Than Italy and Spain

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California confirmed COVID-19 cases have topped 2 million, as they hit 2,012,960, up 44,530 yesterday. That is a daily rate of increase similar to the entire United States three months ago. Fatal cases sit at 23,633 and have started to rise by over 300 a day. Astoundingly, the confirmed case figure puts California ahead of both Italy and Spain, two of the most badly harmed countries, not just of Europe, but the entire world.

Italy’s total confirmed cases currently number 1,991,278 and rising by about 20,000 a day. Spain’s total 1,842,289 and are increasing daily by about 12,000. One primary difference between the two European nations and California is the death toll. In Spain, the number has reached 49,698. In Italy, the figure is 70,395. Each of the two nations suffered great loss of life early in the spread of COVID-19, before lockdowns and mask wearing were part of the regular arsenal of practices used to slow the spread of the disease. Experts argue that when the nations did lock down, the governments made the decisions much too late.

While the growth of the disease has started to quicken in Spain, Italy and other major European nations, led by France, the United Kingdom and Germany, each has begun preventive measures in the hope that the rapid rise in confirmed cases will not go back to the levels of last spring. That, in turn, should keep data cases down, if it works.

California’s case rate, on the other hand, has quickened sharply from earlier in the year. Hospitals have become overwhelmed. Intensive care unit beds in some hospitals are at 100% of capacity. There is even talk of rationing medical care.
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Los Angeles County, the largest in the country by population, is the epicenter of the California disaster. Confirmed cases there are 664,193 and are rising by as much as 15,000 a day. Fatal cases number 9,153 and are gaining by over 100 a day. The LA County number is so high that it tops all but five states: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New York.

At the current rate of increase, California could have over 3 million confirmed cases in less than a month, a milestone that would put it ahead of where Russia, the fourth hardest-hit nation in the world, is today.

These are the five most dangerous counties for COVID-19 in every state.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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