California 'in the midst of a surge,' health secretary says
California is "in the midst of a surge," as the COVID-19 test positivity rate has increased 51% in two weeks, state Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
"These numbers are really going up and going up quickly," Ghaly said during a press briefing Tuesday.
The state reported 15,329 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. The 14-day positivity rate is 5.6%.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have gone up 81.3% over the last 14 days, and intensive care unit hospitalizations increased 57.1% during that period. There are currently 5,844 hospitalizations and 1,397 ICU hospitalizations in the state.
Ghaly warned that 12% of today's cases end up hospitalized about two to three weeks later, and that ICU units in parts of the state are already being pressed.
Four more counties also moved to California's most restrictive reopening tier on Tuesday, bringing the total number of "purple" counties to 45 -- nearly 95% of the state's population. No counties are left in the yellow tier, the least restrictive of the four.
ABC News' Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report