California’s coronavirus curve is flattening, but ‘it’s also stretching’ longer, Gavin Newsom says
Californians’ efforts to stay at home and limit physical contact are flattening the coronavirus infection curve, but also pushing the peak of infection further into the future, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.
“It’s bending, but it’s also stretching,” Newsom said during his daily news briefing.
It’s a development we can be optimistic about, Newsom said, but it also means Californians need to continue taking aggressive measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The state’s efforts to bend the curve mean California will continue to see infection rates climb for many weeks, Newsom’s modeling indicates.
While other projections have suggested peaks in April, California officials continue to say that the state’s infections will just begin to peak in mid to late May. They say their model may differ because they are incorporating real-time information about what’s happening in California hospitals.
The delay, the governors said, is buying the state time to add hospital beds and purchase more personal protective equipment to shield health care workers from the virus.
California will need between 25,000 and 30,000 ventilators when the state reaches its peak infection rate, says Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. But for now, the state has ventilators for everyone who needs one.
About 2,600 confirmed COVID-19 patients and 2,800 suspected patients are hospitalized, according to data from the state. The state is working to expand its hospital capacity by at least 50,000 beds, including by converting arenas like the former Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento into medical facilities.
Overall, 15,865 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus and 374 have died, Newsom said.
California’s testing capacity is still limited, meaning those official numbers are almost certainly undercounts.
The state’s stay-at-home order has also ground much of California’s economy to a halt. Since the pandemic hit the state in March, 2.3 million Californians have filed unemployment insurance claims, Newsom said.
Job losses, school closures and physical distancing needed to fight COVID-19 are causing anxiety, which triggers stress hormones that affect physical health, said California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris.
“The health impacts of coronavirus go beyond infection,” Burke Harris said during the Tuesday briefing. “It’s important to know these changes aren’t just in your head.”
Newsom also announced in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that California has secured a monthly supply of 200 million masks, including 150 million N95 respirator masks. He said the state arranged the deal through a consortium of nonprofits.
“We’ve been competing against other states, against other nations, against our own federal government for (personal protective equipment), coveralls, masks, shields and, substantively, N95 masks. We’re not waiting around any longer, and we’re no longer interested in the progress we’ve seen in the past,” Newsom told Maddow.
Newsom said he is confident that the state will not only have enough masks to serve its own needs, but that California could potentially supply masks to other western states as well.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 1:40 PM with the headline "California’s coronavirus curve is flattening, but ‘it’s also stretching’ longer, Gavin Newsom says."