COVID-19 State Policy Update 04.20.20

Governor Gavin Newsom focused his daily briefing on distance learning and closing the digital divide for California’s students.  

First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom joined the Governor at the briefing.  She announced initiatives to help bridge the digital divide— including that 70,000 kids will receive laptops, Chromebooks, and tablets this week so that they can continue to learn from home.  She further acknowledged private donations from the business community, specifically thanking individual companies including Amazon, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, and Zoom; along with individuals like Jack Dorsey and foundations like Chan Zuckerberg. 

See how Catholic school students are
using distance learning during the pandemic.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond also offered some brief remarks on these efforts.  He referenced the creation of The Closing the Digital Divide Task Force, which is scheduled to meet at 4:00 PM PDT later today. 

Additionally, Governor Newsom mentioned a $30 million effort by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to expand internet access across the state.  He also said the City of Sacramento plans to convert seven school buses to mobile hotspots. 

In terms of modifying the statewide stay-at-home order and the six critical indicators that will be considered, Governor Newsom promised to provide a detailed update this coming Wednesday.  

Consistent with past briefings, the Governor provided the latest COVID-19 hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) patient figures.  The hospitalizations went up to 3,257, a 1.9 percent increase.  The number of coronavirus patients in ICU beds is 1,196, a 2.8 percent increase from the previous day. 

During the Q&A, the Governor was asked about racial disparities in coronavirus cases.  In response, he said his Administration remains focused on this issue.  As of April 18th, data on race and ethnicity is complete for 67 percent of COVID-19 cases and 90 percent of deaths reported to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

Regarding today’s protest outside the State Capitol on reopening the state’s economy, Governor Newsom said, “If you’re going to protest, practice physical distancing…in a way that protects not only your health but the health of others.” He further stated that he’d like to direct folks to the CHP for their comment on why the permit was granted for today’s protest at the State Capitol.

Following this weekend’s update on Project RoomKey, the Governor’s office issued a press release with additional details. The press release highlights that the state has secured over 10,000 rooms for vulnerable Californians experiencing homelessness.  A copy of the press release can be found here

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19 – there are a total of 30,333 confirmed positive cases and 1,166 deaths in California.  As of April 18th, local health departments have reported 3,523 confirmed positive cases in health care workers.  This includes on-the-job exposures, and other exposures, such as travel and close family contact.  Also, as of April 18th, more than 280,800 tests had been conducted in California.  At least 273,700 results have been received and another 7,200 are pending.  More information regarding the most recent COVID-19 statistics can be found here.

Additionally, CDPH released data late last week showing that one-fifth of California’s skilled nursing facilities have reported at least one coronavirus case by either a resident or worker.  More specifically, according to data, there are 1,224 Skilled Nursing Facilities in California and 258 have reported having one or more COVID-19 case by either a resident or a health care worker as of April 17th.   A copy of the data can be found here.

Legislative Activity

The Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation held an informational hearing regarding oversight of COVID-19 response expenditures.  A copy of the hearing agenda can be found here

For this informational hearing, the Committee members were all physically present.  This differs from how the Senate handled their oversight hearing last week.  Recall, the Senate passed a rule allowing remote participation whereas the Assembly has not allowed its members to participate remotely.   As noted in the agenda, the Subcommittee heard from officials with the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS), the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), Governor Newsom’s Department of Finance (DOF), and the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).   Information covered included the State’s COVID-19 data and modeling, along with an overview of the state’s projected $7 billion in coronavirus spending.  As with last week’s Senate hearing, there was some frustration expressed by lawmakers with the lack of details provided regarding the State’s outstanding personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts.

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