The California Department of Public Health today announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19, including data on intensive care unit bed capacity across the state.
Highlights from the data release include 1,450,235 confirmed cases to date, 29,677 newly recorded confirmed cases as of Wednesday, a seven-day positivity rate of 10.0 percent, and a 14-day positivity rate of 9.0 percent.
The state of California is also launching a COVID tracking app. It's a collaboration between Apple, Google and the state. iPhone users will notice a new feature in their settings called "Exposure Notification" that will alert close contacts after someone tests positive for the virus. Android users will need to download the app from the Google store. The developers say there's no concern about privacy, as location data is shared directly with the California Department of Health where it's federally protected.
Starting tonight at 11:59 the Greater Sacramento Region will go on lockdown after hospital intensive care unit bed capacity dropped below the 15 percent threshold established as the trigger for Governor Gavin Newsom's latest stay-at-home order. Hospital capacity in the region fell to 14.3 percent on Wednesday. The region joins the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions in lockdown. Only the Northern California and Bay Area regions have remained above 15 percent ICU bed capacity, though several counties in the Bay Area voluntarily went on lockdown last Friday.