California has gone from worst to first in the rate of coronavirus infections.

For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from the pandemic. In California, the southern half of the state has seen the worst effects, from the agricultural San Joaquin Valley to the Mexico border. On Thursday, the total number of California deaths surpassed 25,000, joining only New York and Texas at that milestone. And public health directives were never adequately enforced. Public health officials, he said, need to find a way to reach people who have given up or not followed rules on social distancing and masks.