Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that a decision on reopening California schools this fall will be made by local education and health officials weighing the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasized that he won’t be swayed by statements from President Trump urging campuses to bring back students quickly.

The governor’s comments came as he warned that the number of coronavirus hospitalizations in California is continuing to surge, rising 44% in the last two weeks, and that another 111 Californians died from the virus in the last 24 hours.

In recent days, Trump has called on the country’s public schools to reopen “quickly and beautifully,” but Los Angeles County’s top health official said earlier this week that the surge in new cases may require continued distance learning in the county.

On Wednesday, Newsom said he will not be moved by the president’s criticism on social media of states moving carefully.

“I’m not worried about the latest tweets” from the president, Newsom said during a news conference Wednesday. “What we need to address is safely reopening schools and we need to make that a foundational principle. That to me is not negotiable.”

Newsom said the state is providing local schools with face masks, gloves and sanitation supplies to ensure that those in classrooms are protected. But he said the virus is affecting some areas of the state more than others, so school districts may vary in when and how they resume instruction.

“All of these things need to be managed at the local level with the foundational framework of keeping our kids and our teachers healthy and safe,” Newsom said.

As the number of coronavirus cases and intensive care unit patients in California continued to rise, Newsom also announced on Wednesday that the number of counties on a state watch list grew from 23 to 26 with the addition of Napa, Yolo and San Benito counties.

Most of the counties on the watch list have moved on new restrictions that include closing bars, restaurants and other businesses that draw indoor crowds, Newsom said.

The governor said the surge can be reduced if Californians abide by the directive he issued last month to wear face coverings in public or high-risk settings, including when shopping and taking public transit.

On Wednesday, Newsom sought to reassure the public that the state is prepared to handle the spike in coronavirus cases with sufficient hospital beds, personal protective gear and volunteer medical professionals.

“We have never been better positioned,” the governor said. “We are sending out millions of masks every single week.”

With 6,100 COVID-19 patients now in California hospitals, the state has built up its capacity to be able to treat 50,000 such patients, the governor said.

Hospitals are cross-training medical professionals to treat coronavirus patients and have additional therapeutic treatments that allow patients to spend less time in the hospital, with fewer placed on ventilators, said Carmela Coyle, president of the California Hospital Assn..

Newsom said 35,000 volunteer medical professionals have been signed up to help hospitals and mobile facilities if the number of patients continues to surge.

In addition, Newsom said that the state has a surplus of face masks that has allowed it to provide supplies to other states, including Arizona and Oregon, where the need is dire.

Still, the governor recently said “strike teams” have been deployed by state agencies to reinforce local orders.

Facing criticism that he was too quick to reopen the state economy, Newsom said earlier this week that state agents from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control visited nearly 6,000 restaurants and bars over the holiday weekend to make sure they were following new, stricter rules.

Newsom noted Wednesday that many small business are facing financial hardship during the pandemic, so the governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery announced the launch of a campaign to encourage Californians to support local businesses that are trying to continue operating safely.

The governor’s task force said it is partnering with companies including UPS, Google and Nextdoor to help connect struggling small businesses with tools — including consultants to help expand online sales and personal protective equipment — to allow them to reach more customers.

Meanwhile, many other Californians are also facing increasing financial pressure. The deadline for paying state income taxes for 2019, postponed in April because of the coronavirus, is July 15, the state Franchise Tax Board reminded taxpayers on Wednesday.

Los Angeles County on Wednesday recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll in at least a month, which may be the result of increased disease transmission that likely began around Memorial Day.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 60 new coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, and Long Beach — which has its own health officer — reported one new death. The combined total of 61 cases is the highest single-day death toll since June 2, when 62 deaths were reported across L.A. County, according to the Los Angeles Times’ California coronavirus tracker.

“Our cases are rising. The rate of infection is increasing. And the number of hospitalizations are up. And today, we’re even seeing a small increase in the number of deaths,” Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County director of public health, said Wednesday.

“Tragically, we do expect that more of our loved ones and our neighbors may die of COVID-19 in the coming weeks with all of the increases we’re seeing in hospitalizations,” Ferrer said.

“We are seeing a sharp increase in community transmission,” Ferrer added, pointing out that L.A. County is recording on average 2,400 new coronavirus cases a day; at this time in June, L.A. County was tallying about 1,300 cases daily.

On Monday, there were 2,004 people hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections in L.A. County, a 36% increase from Memorial Day, when 1,477 coronavirus-infected people were in L.A. County hospitals.

Monday was the second consecutive day L.A. County has posted a record number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the pandemic hit California.

“This is more people hospitalized each day for COVID-19 than really at any other point in the pandemic,” Ferrer said. “We are worried, given the higher rates of hospitalizations, that deaths may go back up.”

Experts say it can take three to four weeks after exposure to the virus for infected people to become sick enough to be hospitalized, and four to five weeks after exposure for patients to die from the disease.

Statewide, the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations continued to march upward.

Tuesday marked California’s 18th consecutive day of breaking the record for number of hospitalized people with confirmed coronavirus infections.

On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said there were 6,100 people hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections, a 114% increase from the number six weeks earlier, on May 26, when 2,847 people were hospitalized.

The number of people in California’s intensive care units has also soared.

On Tuesday, there were 1,753 people with confirmed coronavirus infections in California’s intensive care units, a 71% increase compared to the number six weeks earlier, on May 26, when 1,026 coronavirus-infected patients were in the ICU.

In both Los Angeles County and across the state, a higher percentage of coronavirus test results are coming back positive — an indication that virus transmission is worsening.

The so-called positivity rate has more than doubled since late May in L.A. County. The seven-day average of the daily so-called positivity rate climbed to 10.4%, officials said Wednesday; in late May, that rate fell to a low of 4.6%.

Across California, the rate at which coronavirus tests have come back positive has jumped 67% in the last three weeks.

A Los Angeles Times analysis of test results Wednesday showed the statewide positivity rate over the past seven days was 7.7%%; three weeks earlier, the rate was just 4.6%.

There were some signs of progress — and that warnings the pandemic was worsening in L.A. County in recent weeks may be working.

Over the three-day Fourth of July weekend, out of 1,101 restaurants inspected in L.A. County, 99% were in compliance with county orders to provide only outdoor dining, takeout or delivery; 99% of customers were wearing masks and 82% of employees were wearing appropriate face coverings.

Of 82 bars that were visited by L.A. County inspectors, all were closed, complying with an order issued last week.

By contrast, half of 2,000 restaurants inspected on a mid-June weekend were not in compliance with safety guidelines.

In addition, while coronavirus-related hospitalizations are at all-time highs in L.A. County, they’re increasing at a slower rate, said Dr. Christine Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services.

L.A. County officials began sounding the alarm a month ago, when the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus rose above 1, meaning for every one person infected with the coronavirus, that person on average transmitted the virus to more than one other person — setting the stage for a dramatic worsening of the pandemic.

The transmission rate has fallen back to 1 in recent weeks. That’s good news, and if that rate remains steady, it’s now likely that L.A. County will have an adequate supply of hospital beds through early August.

But because the rate was above 1 for a period of time in June, it also means that as we head into July, L.A. County is now dealing with the consequences, Ghaly said.

Ghaly said officials suspect that the reopening of L.A. County’s economy was the major reason for the uptick in transmission.

L.A. County reopened churches and in-store shopping on May 26; allowed indoor dining to resume on May 29; and permitted bars and wineries to reopen on June 19.

Bars were ordered closed in L.A. County on June 28, and indoor dining was ordered closed on July 1.

The coronavirus continues to disproportionately impact Black and Latino residents of Los Angeles County compared to white residents, according to an age-adjusted analysis of mortality rates released by county officials.

Black and Latino residents of L.A. County are dying at roughly double the rate of white residents, the analysis found.

For every 100,000 Latino residents, 45 have died; and for every 100,000 Black residents, 41 have died.

For every 100,000 Asian residents, 27 have died. And for every 100,000 white residents, 21 have died.

The overall mortality rate in L.A. County is 33 deaths for every 100,000 residents.

The racial disparities are a cause of concern, Ferrer said, and mean that officials need to redouble efforts to improve access to testing and healthcare in underserved areas, as well as help workers who may not have adequate protection on the job.

Poor neighborhoods are also showing far worse mortality rates. Those living in areas with the worst poverty in L.A. County are seeing 73 fatalities for every 100,000 residents, while residents of the wealthiest areas are seeing 18 deaths for every 100,000 residents.

President Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.

Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and an additional 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.

Although the Health Department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike.

“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said.

Trump’s Tulsa rally, his first since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. earlier this year, attracted people from around the country. About 6,200 people gathered inside the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena — far fewer than was expected.

Dart had urged the campaign to consider pushing back the date of the rally, fearing a potential surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the campaign went to great lengths to ensure that those who attended the rally were protected.

“There were literally no health precautions to speak of as thousands looted, rioted, and protested in the streets and the media reported that it did not lead to a rise in coronavirus cases,” Murtaugh said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the President’s rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask, and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all.

“It’s obvious that the media’s concern about large gatherings begins and ends with Trump rallies,” he said.

Although masks were provided to rallygoers, there was no requirement that participants wear them, and most didn’t.

A reporter who attended the Trump rally is among those who have tested positive for COVID-19, along with six of Trump’s campaign staffers and two members of the Secret Service who worked in advance of the rally.

Statewide, Oklahoma health officials on Wednesday reported 673 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, the state’s second-highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.

The new cases reported by the Oklahoma State Department of Health follow a record high of 858 cases that were reported on Tuesday and bring the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 17,893. The actual number of infections is thought to be much higher because many people haven’t been tested and some who get the disease don’t show symptoms.

The Health Department also reported three additional COVID-19 deaths, bringing the statewide death toll to 407.

In response to a recent surge in coronavirus cases, the cities of Norman and Stillwater have approved mandates that people must wear masks in public. Norman approved its ordinance Tuesday night after a five-hour City Council meeting during which citizens on both sides of the issue spoke out.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.