Californiaâs cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 409,000 this week, surpassing New York’s caseload by about 1,200 for the most cases of any state, according to data from John’s Hopkins University.
However, New York’s 32,520 deaths are still by far the highest total in the country â four times more than California’s tally â and its rate of confirmed infections, of about 2,100 per 100,000 people, is twice California’s rate.
California is by far the most populous U.S. state, with nearly 40 million people â compared to New York’s roughly 19.5 million â so its per capita infection rate is still much lower than in New York.
California initially succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus with aggressive shelter-in-place measures imposed in mid-March. But after reopening much of its economy in May and June, infections began to climb sharply again, prompting a new round of sweeping business restrictions, including a ban on indoor dining in restaurants and bars.
U.S. government data published Tuesday found that reported and confirmed coronavirus cases vastly underestimate the true number of infections, echoing results from a smaller study last month.
The U.S. also has had consistent testing failures that experts say contribute to an undercount of the actual virus rate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study â based on COVID-19 antibody tests performed on routine blood samples in 16,000 throughout the country â found that actual COVID-19 rates were more than 10 times higher than the number of cases reported in most U.S. regions from late March to early May.
â Associated Press
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