California Covid-19 Update: Governor Gavin Newsom Orders 5,000 Body Bags, Refrigerated Units For Coroners As State Prepares For Surge In Deaths
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom took a victory lap after the arrival of the first 32,000 doses Covid-19 vaccine. “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. But there was a lot of darkness in the numbers later announced.
At his news conference, the governor ran through the distribution of the initial 327,000 doses from Pfizer, 60% of which could be delivered on Tuesday. Newsom announced an additional 393,000 from Pfizer as early as next week. The total number of doses delivered by the end of the year, could rise to 2.1 million, he said.
The first phase of the vaccine rollout will inoculate 3 million mostly frontline healthcare workers.
The second phase will inoculate 8 million others, which could include teachers, farm workers, grocery story workers. The workers included on that list are still being firmed up by a state working group.
The governor reported 32,326 new cases in the state over the past 24 hours. Even more grimly, California had seen 142 deaths. Newsom said that 163 people had been lost to the virus on average over the past 7 days. The all-time high number of deaths related to the virus was the 225 reported on Friday.
“This is not something to be trifled with,” he said. “Think about what the January number may look like if we continue [like this].”
Newsom then announced that the state had activated mutual aid among the state’s coroners. That means if one area’s coroners are overwhelmed, they can call on those from nearby regions for help.
“We have orders for 63 refrigerated units,” he said. “We just had to order 5,000 additional body bags and distribute them down to San Diego, L.A. County.” Newsom said his intention was not to scare Californians, but the gravity of the announcement was hard to ignore.
Asked whether he was concerned about hospitals being driven past their limits Newsom replied, “That is correct.”
“Even if we start seeing the case numbers go down,” said the Governor, “we have the residual, the impact on the hospitals. That’s what we’re concerned about — that long tail — in terms of our planning.”
The state’s director of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, indicated that the state’s case counts were “15,000 two weeks ago. They’re now 30,000. That should tell you what our hospitals will be facing in the next 2 weeks.” In other words, a doubling of demand.
Ghaly indicated that it would be “45-60 days before our hospital system really sees the kind of relief and return to normal.” That prediction seemed to be predicted, however, on Californians modifying their behavior.
“We have an opportunity in the next few days to stay at home as much as we can,” said Ghaly, “to wear our masks as much as we can. To make different decisions about travel. Especially as we move into the holiday season.”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/california-covid-19-governor-gavin-190254284.html