Los Angeles Times

Tracking COVID-19 in California

UPDATED

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878
hospitalized patients
as of March 9
1,425
deaths
from Aug. 22 to Nov. 19

Note to readers

The Los Angeles Times has updated its coronavirus tracker to reflect the state of the virus in the post-emergency era. We are no longer emphasizing cumulative case counts and test positivity rates, as they are no longer accurate measures of the prevalence of the virus. Instead, The Times — like many public health officials — is focusing on the latest hospitalization numbers and recent deaths linked to COVID-19.

This page tracks the latest available data on COVID-19 hospitalizations, cases, deaths, variants and vaccinations from the California Department of Public Health. The most recent case and deaths counts are artificially low because of lags in reporting time.

Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations

Since case and testing numbers have become increasingly unreliable measures of the virus’ prevalence in a community, state officials now use COVID-19 hospitalizations as a key indicator. This metric has “shown 99% concordance” with community levels, according to the CDPH.

As of March 9, there were 878 hospitalized patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 statewide, a change of -27.2% from two weeks ago.

Intensive care and other hospitalized patients

Hospitalizations by county

To keep tabs on available beds, officials watch out for rapid increases in the number of infected patients.

Recent deaths

Since the start of the pandemic, 104,939 Californians have died of COVID-19. In the last 120 days, 1,832 state residents have died.

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 30 days is incomplete due to the time it takes to process death certificates. Earlier dates’ totals will be updated as new information is released.

Seven-day average

Recent deaths by county

Number of deaths and seven day averages are reported up to Nov. 19.

Cases

About 145,768 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 90 days.

Since hospitalizations and death counts are more reliable indicators of the virus’ transmission rates, The Times no longer emphasizes case numbers on this page.

Statewide vaccinations

About 72.8% of Californians have completed a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson.

The CDPH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend everyone who is eligible get an updated booster to increase immunity against new variants of the virus. As of March 16, 13.8% of residents are up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations.

In June, CDPH changed the way it tracks booster data. Instead of separately counting people receiving the primary series, booster and updated booster, the agency now counts those who are “up-to-date” with their vaccinations. This figure is calculated out of the total population rather than the booster-eligible population.

Vaccinations by county

Variants

State officials examine a subset of coronavirus specimens to identify changes or mutations in the virus that causes COVID-19 and keep track of emerging variants. As of May 10, the Omicron variant accounted for 98.3% new cases in the state.