Today, Monday, March 30th, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a major initiative to expand the health care workforce to fight COVID-19. He also provided an update on the state’s response to the pandemic. The press conference concluded at approximately 12:50 PM.
The Governor opened the press conference by stating that in the past 4 days, there has been a doubling of COVID-19 hospitalizations and a tripling of intensive care unit (ICU) patients in California. More specifically, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations is now 1,432. The number of coronavirus patients in ICU beds is nearly 600.
Governor Newsom announced the California Health Corps to ensure adequate staff for health care sites throughout California. Here is the link for more information: https://covid19.ca.gov/healthcorps/. (According to the Sacramento Bee, the state estimated that 37,000 health care professionals recently retired, are working part time or are close to earning their degree. These are the type of people the program is trying t recruit.)
The Govern also signed an executive order (EO) to waive some scope of practice and staffing ratio requirements for health care workers, including nurse practitioners and EMTs. A copy of the EO can be found here, and the text of the order can be found here. A copy of the Governor’s Office New Release can be found here.
Notably, beginning this week, Newsom will hold his daily briefings at 12:00 PM PDT. The updates will be streamed at the @CAgovernor Twitter page and California Governor Facebook page.
During the Q&A portion of the press conference, the Governor was asked about schooling. In response, he said that all California county school superintendents will be meeting by phone this afternoon, likely more information to come on how school closures will move forward.
Yesterday, Sunday March 29th, Governor Newsom announced that social media companies, businesses, leaders, and individuals from across the state have jumped into action to partner and support the COVID-19 public awareness campaign. The partnerships include sharing content with the public through social media and other digital platforms, radio and television, and outdoor advertising.
Lastly, earlier today, Assemblymember Phil Ting, Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee released a memo (attached) regarding budgetary funding requests from members of the legislature. There is a call to members for “ideas” surrounding the budget. The letter further states “getting your ideas out into the public discussion will be critical as we work together to rebuild California.”