California Recording Lowest Number Of ICU / Hospitalized Patients Since The Early Days Of The Pandemic -- September 28, 2020

From a reader, a big thank you --

Link here to Mercury News:

A lot has changed since the last time California had this few COVID-19 patients in its hospitals.

There were 2,869 patients hospitalized with the virus around the state Saturday, according to the latest update from the California Department of Public Health, hitting its lowest level since April 10; the number of patients in intensive care units also fell to 932, the lowest it has been since April 2, 2020.

At the time, the state was mere weeks into the nation’s first shelter-in-place order, while President Donald Trump and governors, like California’s Gavin Newsom, were volleying responsibility for reopening from the initial shutdowns. There was hope the virus would peak by the end of spring.

Six months later, most of California remains closed and virus deaths have soared. The total fatalities nationwide number nearly 200,000, with more than 14,000 in California alone. The case count in the Golden State was over 760,000 Sunday — 38 times more than it was when hospitalizations were last this low.

Lots of obfuscation. 

Bottom line: lowest number of hospitalized / ICU Covid-19 patients since this all began and California remains shut down. All the state has done is delay the inevitable: there are only two groups of folks in California: those who have not yet tested positive and those that have.  The only way the state can keep these numbers these low is keep the state locked down until a vaccine is universally available, most likely not earlier than a year from now. Possibly longer.

California has a death rate of 396 / one million population.  Can you imagine how low that rate is in the rural part of the state?

Compare (deaths / million population):

• Iowa: 419
• New York: 1,708
• New Jersey: 1.827

Link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/. 

The reader's "back-of-the-envelope" calculations:

• population of California: 40 million
  
• 4,000,000 = 10%
• 40,000=1%
• 4,000=0.1% of population hospitalized (actually about 0.075% see actual numbers in the linked article above)
• 1,000 =0.025% of population in intensive care
• I don't find anywhere a meaningful definition of "a pandemic", but I know that California  is no longer in a pandemic, and most likely never was....and it won't be after the election.