CALIFORNIA, USA — Governor Newsom discussed California's emergency actions to "stand up alternate care facilities and secure thousands of beds to prepare for a COVID-19 surge" according to the governor's press office in Sacramento.
“We started on this journey in January with repatriation flights that came back,” said Newsom.
Almost 82,000 Californians have applied to step up and help with the Health Corps.
“It’s one thing to have the beds. It’s another thing to have the personnel,” said Newsom.
California is planning to have 50,000 beds available for "phase one" of this crisis, which Newsom anticipates will peak in mid-May. According to Newsom, 1,085 Californians are in the ICU. California has already secured up to 4,613 additional hospital beds at alternate care sites and shuttered hospitals to care for an anticipated surge in COVID-19 patients.
Newsom gave a shoutout to San Diego County.
"I want to congratulate the work of the county down there [...] Nathan Fletcher, supervisor, and others," said Newsom.
Recognizing that states like New York are experiencing immediate supply shortages as a result of COVID-19, Governor Gavin Newsom Monday announced that California would help meet this moment by loaning 500 state-owned ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile inventory.
“California is stepping up to help our fellow Americans in New York and across the country who are being impacted the hardest right now by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Governor Newsom. “We still have a long road ahead of us in the Golden State – and we’re aggressively preparing for a surge – but we can’t turn our back on Americans whose lives depend on having a ventilator now. We’re meeting this moment with compassion. I know that if the tables were turned and we were experiencing a hospital surge, other states would come to our aid and provide ventilators just as we are today.”
California continues to prepare for a possible COVID-19 surge. The state is securing thousands of beds in alternate care facilities, protecting the homeless, purchasing critical medical equipment and launching new programs like the Health Corps to recruit health care professionals.
As of Sunday afternoon, there are 13,946 confirmed cases in California and there have been 324 deaths. Approximately 131,500 tests had been conducted. At least 116,563 results have been received and another 15,000 are pending as of April 5.
