The nation's largest state reopens today, effectively ending a slew of 15-month restrictions to stem the COVID-19 pandemic. California is ranked 41st among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, according to a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. With 11.87% of the country's population, California had 6.19% of the country's cases in the last week.
The Golden State is in a markedly different place than it was in December when it broke records for hospitalizations and single-day case numbers multiple days in a row. Deaths topped 30,000, then 45,000 the next month, and many funeral homes in Southern California were overrun by the surge. Last week, California recorded 792 to 1,136 new infections every day, down from a December peak of nearly 54,000.
"It's a new day," Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a news conference Monday, before the state's reopening. "This state is not poised to recover, it's poised, as was noted, to come roaring back."
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