July 8 coronavirus news

By Helen Regan, Steve George, Laura Smith-Spark, Ed Upright, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 8:01 PM ET, Wed July 8, 2020
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12:22 a.m. ET, July 8, 2020

California's coronavirus hospitalizations remain at all-time high

From CNN's Cheri Mossburg

Coronavirus hospitalizations in California are reaching new levels, with nearly 6,000 Covid-19 patients.

This is a 3.4% one-day increase as almost 200 more patients were admitted. There are also a record number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, according to data from California Department of Public Health.

CDPH is recording at least 6,448 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, adding 111 fatalities in today’s report.

The positivity rate in California over the past two weeks stands at 6.8% with about 4.9 million tests conducted to date.

NOTE: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

12:22 a.m. ET, July 8, 2020

Covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations in Ohio are up, governor says

From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia

Ohio reported 948 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours -- a number that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says is “down a little bit” from where it’s been “but certainly is up significantly from where it was three weeks ago.”

That is above the 21-day average of 804 which continues to increase “as these numbers continue to go up,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. 

The deaths are up over the average, with 43 reported in the last 24 hours, DeWine said 

Hospitalizations are “significantly up” with a report of 134 in the last 24 hours “as well as the ICU admissions,” he said. 

Hospital admissions are “creeping up,” he said, adding that is “obviously of some …concern.”

Some context: Ohio is one of at least 31 states that have showed an upward trend in average new daily cases, CNN reported. 

8:14 a.m. ET, July 8, 2020

Texas county judge wants to issue stay-at-home order

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Lina Hidalgo, judge of Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston, is advocating for a stay-at-home order in her county as coronavirus cases rise. 

“If we want to get ahead of this, we need a stay-home order. We need to keep it in place until a curve comes down on the other side to 10%, 20% of peak, as other communities have done it, [and] at that point, open more responsibly,” Hidalgo said. “…We know this virus is going to be with us for the long haul and our strategy needs to be long-term as well.” 

Hidalgo, the chief administrator of the county, said that she doesn’t want to shut the economy again, but a patchwork method won’t quell coronavirus in the long run. 

“A long-term solution based on data instead of wishful thinking is what's going to put our economy in the position to succeed,” Hidalgo told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. 

Texas has more than 200,000 Covid-19 cases, and Harris County has more than 37,000 cases so far. 

Hidalgo said that a mask mandate will not solely bring the number of cases down, which is why she’s looking for a stay-at-home order as well. 

“We can’t just put our head in the sand and hope that somehow it’s going to go differently over here,” she said.