Cases in state remain steady

151 new fatalities from COVID-19 in California on Tuesday

There were more deaths reported Tuesday in California than on any other day in more than two weeks, according to data compiled by this news organization, but the daily average remained near its lowest point since the first week of July.

Counties around the state reported a total of 151 new fatalities from COVID-19 on Tuesday — including more than 100 of those between four counties in Southern California — slightly increasing the average over the past week to about 84 per day.

California’s seven- day average of cases remained about flat, at about 3,275 per day, after there were another 3,260 new cases reported Tuesday. That figure dipped Sunday and Monday for the first time in weeks, to its lowest point since June 16.

In the past two weeks, California’s average daily cases are down about 5 percent, while average daily deaths have declined by about 23 percent. Compared to a month ago, however, deaths are still down about 24 percent, while the decline in cases is much more pronounced: 38 percent — a sign of how the state’s slowdown in cases has tailed off in recent weeks.

Orange County reported its highest single- day death count of the pandemic with 33 fatalities Tuesday. Only Los Angeles County, the most populous in the state and the nation, accounted for a larger share of the statewide death toll Tuesday. There were 36 new deaths reported in LA, followed by 33 in Orange County, 27 in San Bernardino and 10 in Riverside County.

The 151 total fatalities reported Tuesday were tied the most in a single day since Sept. 11. (Deaths and cases reflect when they were reported by the county health

department, not when they occurred; deaths, in particular, can take weeks to enter the system.)

A ltogether, the four Southern California counties accounted for 70 percent of the reported fatalities in the state Tuesday, despite making up about 45 percent of its population. Those counties also have the four highest overall death tolls, followed by San Diego County, while only Imperial County and the Central Valley have had more deaths per-capita.

The 6,551 deaths from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County are the most in the state, followed by 1,249 in Orange County, 1,216 in Riverside County, 952 in San Bernardino County and 781 in San Diego County; no other jurisdiction in California has reported 500 coronavirus deaths.

Those five counties account for 68 percent of California’s 15,790 deaths from COVID-19, despite making up just over half the state’s population. The death toll in the Bay Area, which is home to about 20 percent of California’s population, just crossed 1,500, or just below 10 percent of the statewide total.

There were 12 new fatalities in the region Tuesday: four each in Santa Clara and Solano counties, plus two in Alameda County and one apiece in Contra Costa County and Santa Cruz County — just the 10th total in the coastal community.

A lameda County recently became the first in the region to report its 400th death from the virus; an influx in backdated deaths from the county coroner fueled a recent spike there. San Francisco also recently reported its 100th death from the virus, making it the seventh in the region and 22nd statewide to reach that mark.

On Tuesday, San Francisco and Contra Costa each got the green light to advance to the next reopening tier.

San Francisco became the first major city to enter the orange tier, while Contra Costa became the second-to-last county in the Bay Area to exit the most severe purple tier.