Governor Projects 56% of Californians May Be Infected With Coronavirus in 8 Weeks
Newsom predicts that 56% of California’s population – roughly 25.5 million residents – could be infected with the novel coronavirus over an eight-week period.
By Andrew Johnson and Christina Bravo • Published 3 hours ago • Updated 1 hour ago
In an extreme estimate, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than half of California’s population could be infected with the new virus that causes COVID-19 over the next eight weeks – totaling more than 25 million people.
In an attempt to secure federal resources for his state, Newsom penned a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday, explaining that “California has been disproportionality impacted by the repatriation efforts over the last few months."
The governor later wrote that, “In some parts of our state, our case rate is doubling every four days. Moreover, we have community acquired transmission in 23 counties with an increase of 44 community acquired infections in 24 hours.”
In response to the spreading novel coronavirus, Newsom requested the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship, homeported in San Diego, to be stationed at the Port of Los Angeles to help the region’s health care system overwhelmed by the pandemic.
Newsom predicted that 56% of California’s population – roughly 25.5 million residents – could be infected with the novel coronavirus over an eight-week period.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that two U.S. Navy hospital ships had been tapped to assist strained health care systems in the U.S. – the Mercy and the USNS Comfort, based in Norfolk, Virginia.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he and the president had discussed sending a “floating hospital” to New York harbor. The president later said one of the two ships may depart for New York but “we haven't made the final determination of where it’s going to go.” Amid discussions, Newsom hoped to secure the ship already on California’s coast for Los Angeles.
“The population density in the Los Angeles Region is similar to New York City, will be disproportionality impacted by the number of COVID-19 cases,” the California governor wrote.
However, the hospital ships will not treat patients who tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy clarified.
“The Comfort and Mercy will not deploy to treat COVID patients, but will be made available to assist with treatment of other patients in coastal locations where local health professionals are necessarily focused on a large number of COVID cases,” the Navy confirmed in a statement to NBC 7.
In Newsom’s letter to Trump, he wrote the Mercy would ensure that California had “the ability to address critical acute care needs, such as heart attacks and strokes or vehicle accidents.”
The two ships each have about 1,000 rooms and 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen-producing plants, according to the U.S. navy. They are typically deployed to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Newsom requested the Mercy be stationed in Los Angeles until, at least, Sept. 1, 2020.
Above is from: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/governor-projects-56-of-californians-may-be-infected-with-coronavirus-in-next-8-weeks/2289281/
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