California becomes first state to report 600K COVID-19 cases

California has become the first state in the nation to surpass 600,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.

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Friday, August 14, 2020
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California has become the first state in the nation to surpass 600,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.

As of Friday morning, Johns Hopkins University recorded 603,072 confirmed cases in the state.

The grim milestone comes as California continues to straighten out a data glitch on July 25 that left 295,000 health records - many of them COVID-19 tests - unprocessed.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this week the state's county watch list has been frozen as the state sorts out the inaccurate COVID-19 data. The governor said the watch list would be unfrozen at some point this week, once the backlog was fully cleared.

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Newsom expressed frustration during a press conference Wednesday with Californians who still aren't physical distancing amid the pandemic.

He said crowds at the American River near Sacramento recently made it look like "spring break."

"We're not minimizing mixing. It throws shivers up my spine," said Newsom. "Here we are making all this progress, and it can be done away.

Also on Wednesday, state officials reported a total of 10,808 deaths in the state.

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