In 2021 coronavirus cases in California and SLO County surpassed triple the numbers of 2020
Throughout 2021, the coronavirus pandemic that began in early 2020 continued it’s worldwide spread. As of Jan. 30, 2022, California has seen 8,213,694 million confirmed cases with San Luis Obispo County being responsible for 46,951 of those cases (SLO County data from 1/28/22).
On Jan 25, 2020, California saw its first case of COVID-19 when a man from Orange County tested positive for the virus. The following day, a second California resident tested positive, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the United States to five. By the end of January, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global emergency. On March 18, 2020, San Luis Obispo county adopted shelter in place policies, along with six other counties. It was only the next day when a shelter in place was issued across the entire state. Cases in California continued to rise, with the records continuously breaking themselves.
By the middle of June, certain businesses were given the go-ahead to open up. What seemed to be the beginning of the end was quickly shaken as those businesses were ordered to close again by mid-July. The more-contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 found itself infecting people in California. The state continued to break its own records, and the Fall 2021 school year began behind screens. Restrictions continued to intensify and then be put at ease, with the first vaccinations arriving in December of 2020. By the end of the year, California reported 2,367,492 cases and 31,338 deaths related to COVID-19.
2021 for California began with goals. In the beginning of January, California set a goal of vaccinating 1 million people within a ten day period. Eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccination started to increase, and the cases did as well. On February 24, 2021, California surpassed 50,000 deaths related to COVID-19. In the first week of August, the state surpassed 4 million cases. This was an increase of just over 1.6 million since January. By December, over 5 million cases had been reported, and 76,690 deaths.
