Gavin Newsom expands state testing hours, rapid tests as omicron sweeps through California
California will expand hours for state-operated testing sites and will provide at least one rapid test for every public school student as the omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads through the state, threatening hospital capacity, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.
His announcement comes as Californians scramble to find rapid tests in time for holiday gatherings, which are now in short supply at many pharmacies. Newsom said the rapid tests for students are part of his administration’s commitment to keep schools open through an omicron surge.
Wednesday morning, Newsom and the leaders of the state’s teacher top education groups, including the California Teachers Association, issued a statement resolving to keep classrooms open into the new year.
“I cannot impress upon you more how important it is to keep our schools open, and how important it is to get our kids tested, vaccinated and continuing our mask requirements,” Newsom said during a Wednesday morning press conference at an Oakland health clinic.
The day before, Newsom had announced that health care workers, who were already required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, would need booster shots, too. He said Wednesday the deadline for those workers to get the additional shot would be Feb. 1. The booster requirement will apply to about 2.5 million health care workers, his office said.
“We’re stepping up our efforts to get people vaccinated but also to be boosted,” Newsom said in a video message posted to Twitter on Tuesday evening.
Newsom’s announcement comes on the heels of a similar warning about omicron from President Joe Biden, who on Tuesday announced the federal government would provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits in a surge of support for the health system.
On Monday, officials announced that the omicron variant accounts for nearly three-fourths of new U.S. infections, overtaking the previously dominant delta variant.
In California, omicron is spreading through all regions of the state, according to the California Department of Public Health. Hospitalizations and the rate of positive tests are ticking up, data from the department shows.
In the last week, COVID-19 cases have doubled, Newsom said. Experts estimate that omicron is responsible for more than half of new cases in the state.
Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 87% of Californians over age 5 have received at least one COVID-19 shot. The state of 40 million people has administered 8.7 million booster shots, according to Newsom’s office.
“I want to remind everybody of the power and potency of your day-to-day decisions,” Newsom said, urging people to continue taking precautions as they gather with family over the holidays.
“We’re all exhausted by this. But we have something we never had in the past, and that’s the power of these life-saving vaccines and the power to boost it to get through this arguably fifth wave of this pandemic, and get closer to that day where this pandemic becomes an endemic and we manage it as we manage so many issues in our state.”
In another potential change, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said his team is in talks with the CDC about shortening the recommended quarantine period for COVID to five days, something he said California officials could support. The extent of vaccinations as well as changes in the virus itself make it possible, he said.
“I think the science is clear,” Ghaly said. “We can do some things different than we were before, and I think this adjustment potentially is reflective of that science.”
Brian Ferguson, deputy director for crisis communication and public affairs at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said Biden’s announcement on Tuesday allows California the ability to expand its National Guard troops and contract nursing providers, but that the state has already taken its own steps to prepare for omicron.
“California has as much capacity, if not more than, any place in the world to deal with a surge like this,” Ferguson said. “We hope we don’t have to, but we are very prepared.”
Over the fall months, California set up 1,033 surge hospital beds, with the anticipation that cases would rise in the winter.
The Biden administration last week sent 330 ventilators to those states who need it most. California, in comparison, has 12,000 ventilators ready for use, Ferguson said.
The administration also said it would make 1,400 additional federal medical personnel available to states who need them, but California has already contracted 1,700 medical personnel that are paid for by the federal government.
Ferguson said it’s critical during a surge to have the ability to bring in additional personnel, especially in areas along the border like Imperial County, where they have very few medical facilities.
“That border region in the Yuma and Imperial area, is another place… where we’ve seen challenges with keeping those hospitals staffed in a way to meet the demand that they’re seeing,” he said.
The state is also well-equipped with a supply of personal protective gear, Ferguson said. California has 125 million N95 masks available, as well as 230 million surgical masks. Those can be distributed if needed, he said.
Federal resources are likely to go to the states that need it most right now, which would be the Northeast and northern Midwest.
“What we’ve done is taken a very explicit approach to prepare for this moment, and to be ready and have a reliable, long-term supply chain, and to have supplies ready to meet the surge,” Ferguson said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job here in California, but the next few weeks are going to be a challenging period regardless.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Gavin Newsom expands state testing hours, rapid tests as omicron sweeps through California."