A leading state health official in California is attributing a recent spike in coronavirus cases to the state’s expanded testing capacity and not the phased reopening of local businesses.
“We’ve ramped up testing in an extraordinary way, nearly hitting our goal that was set for August — not June, not July, but August — of getting to 60,000 to 80,000 tests a day,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of Health and Human Services. “We’re already knocking on that door, averaging in the [mid-50s to high 50s] over the past few days across the state.”
California reported an additional 7,200 cases of coronavirus last week, bringing the state’s total to nearly 149,000, according to health department data.
California has in recent weeks relaxed statewide stay-at-home orders and allowed staggered reopenings of certain businesses, which are required to operate below full capacity and make accommodations for social distancing measures.
“No one is naive about the reality of reopening our economy, and the expectation that as more and more people mix and are not practicing physical distancing, are not wearing face coverings, that the likelihood that we see a larger spread of this disease presents itself,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a May 29 press briefing.
Images showing large crowds popping up at beaches in California over Memorial Day weekend fueled concern that states that allowed people to go to nonessential businesses could contribute to a mass contamination event.
“We expected cases to go up and hospitalizations to bump up as we reopened, but we need to understand this isn’t contained and it’s continuing to spread,” said Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner.
But Ghaly explained that California’s recent spike in cases should only be attributed to a fast-tracked testing system.
“I think it’s natural, that it’s easy to just focus on the number of new cases,” Ghaly said. “But I think that’s really anchored — if you’re not seeing a tremendous uptick in the number of hospitalizations in the right timeline or … ICU cases, that’s really connected, at least in California’s case, to an increase in testing. So I think it’s always important to kind of have that in the context.”
