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California becomes first state to surpass 2 million coronavirus cases

A clinician cares for a COVID-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Providence St. Mary Medical Center amid a surge in COVID-19 patients in Southern California on Wednesday in Apple Valley, California. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

California surpassed 2 million COVID-19 cases on Thursday morning, per Johns Hopkins University.

Why it matters: It's the first U.S. state to exceed 2 million coronavirus infections. While it took California over nine months for 1 million people to test positive for the virus, state health officials have confirmed 1 million cases in six weeks, the Mercury News notes.

Photo: California Department of Public Health/Twitter

The big picture: Intensive care units in California are overstretched, particularly in the south and San Joaquin Valley, which have 0% capacity.

  • Over 23,500 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus in California and the testing positivity rate stands at 6.45%, according to JHU.

For the record: The cases milestone comes as the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are being rolled out across the U.S., with more than 1 million Americans receiving a shot so far.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Go deeper

Oriana Gonzalez
Jan 26, 2021 - Health

U.K. surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths

Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images

The U.K. on Tuesday surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths almost a year after the first two cases were reported in the country, according to government figures.

Why it matters: It is the first European country and fifth country in the world to reach the threshold. The country reported 100,162 deaths on Tuesday.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Axios
Updated 8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

  1. Health: One year of the coronavirus — Bill and Melinda Gates warn of "immunity inequality" — Communities of color are falling behind in America's vaccine effort.
  2. Vaccine: Vaccine hesitancy is decreasing in the U.S.
  3. Politics: Biden admin to boost COVID vaccine delivery to states for at least 3 weeks — Hundreds of Biden staffers receive COVID vaccine — Axios-Ipsos poll: Trust in federal COVID-19 response surges.
  4. Business: Bankruptcy filings hit decade-high last year.
  5. World: U.K. surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths — 44% of Israelis have already received at least one vaccine dose.
  6. Sports: Europe's 20 richest soccer clubs report 12% revenue hit due to coronavirus — Pandemic has cost the NCAA $600 million — CDC looks at lessons learned from NFL's testing and contact tracing.
Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Jacob Knutson
Sep 5, 2020 - Economy & Business

Scammers have stolen over $130 million in coronavirus-related schemes

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Over 100,000 Americans have collectively reported roughly $132 million in fraud losses from scams related to the coronavirus and government stimulus checks since the March start of the pandemic, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Why it matters: Coronavirus-related fraud complaints peaked in May when the IRS began sending its first round of stimulus checks. Congress recently proposed a second round of stimulus.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow