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On Tuesday, Los Angeles County reported 4,015 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, its highest ever daily toll.
"The high number of cases are, in part, due to a backlog of about 2,000 test results received from one lab who just submitted lab results from July 2 through July 5 today," the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The department also reported that an average of 11.6 percent of all people being tested over the last week for COVID-19 have come up positive.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that regions should aim for a positivity rate of 5 percent as an indication that local health officials are doing enough testing and prevention measures to stem the virus's spread. As of June 7, more than half of all U.S. states, including California, are above the WHO's 5 percent goal.
Los Angeles County has reported more cases and deaths than any other of California's 58 other counties. L.A. County has had over 117,000 cases and 3,534 related deaths since the start of the epidemic.
Of the 1,969 people currently hospitalized in L.A. County hospitals, the health department said, 27 percent are in intensive care units (ICU) and 18 percent are on ventilators.
"This remains substantially higher than the 1,350 to 1,450 daily hospitalizations seen three weeks ago," the department wrote. "The number of daily of hospitalizations has steadily increased to over 1,900 since July 1."
The department has urged everyone to avoid "the Three Cs: Crowded places, Confined spaces and Close contact with others" while stressing the importance of wearing face-coverings and staying six feet apart from others when out in public.
California has experienced a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases. On July 5, California reported 11,529 its highest ever daily toll of new cases. The state has also averaged about 7,876 new cases every day for the last seven days.
At the start of June, most California regions entered Phase 2 of the state's reopening plan, resuming services at a range of businesses with health-safety measures in place.
At a June 29 press briefing, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom said he is evaluating which counties might have to reinstate stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns amid the state's spike in COVID-19 case numbers.
Newsom had ordered the limited closure of bars that don't serve food in seven California counties and said the state might impose a stay-at-home order for Imperial County if county leaders do not implement one first. Earlier in the week, On June 25, Newsom ordered state residents to wear face coverings while in public, on public transportation, or in crowded or medical settings.
As of July 7, the state ranks second among U.S. states with the highest overall number of confirmed cases, trailing just behind New York. Overall, California has had over 281,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 6,463 deaths since the start of the epidemic.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the distribution of COVID-19 cases around the U.S. as of July 6.
