On Saturday, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom called for a $2.7 billion COVID-19 emergency response package to address additional testing capacity and assistance to hospitals.
On Saturday, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom called for a $2.7 billion COVID-19 emergency response package to address additional testing capacity and assistance to hospitals.
The $2.7 Billion Package
California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a budget worth $2.7 billion on Saturday, a 2022 to 2023 fight against COVID an Emergency Response Package, including a $1.4 billion emergency appropriation request to be the first to release immediately to provide additional testing kits, speed up vaccination and booster, by support frontliners, to strengthen our health care systems, and battle misinformation. Moreover, the budget proposal by Newsom will soon be passed to the state’s lawmakers table next week.
According to the Newsom administration, California has issued $11.2 billion in funding to combat COVID-19 since the outbreak of coronavirus has begun. While around 69 percent of California’s population are fully vaccinated, the state has also seen more than 77,000 COVID-19-related unfortunate deaths and streaming cases following the emergence of the new and highly transmissible Omicron variant. More than 9,000 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in California, per state data on Jan 6.
Additional funds will also support California’s Department of Public Health and state emergency medical services; to increase staffing and other services at hospitals and strengthen the contract tracing efforts, among other measures.
California’s COVID Analyst
According to data collected by The Times, California has averaged more than 65,000 new cases a day over the past week. State public health officials said more than 2,700 people were admitted in California hospitals Friday for COVID-related, totaling more than 10,000. The strain on the state’s hospitals from COVID patients, officials said, was close to last winter experienced before vaccines were widely available.
Hence, $583 million would be put toward increasing vaccinations and booster shots for Californians, Newsom announced on Friday that he had activated the state’s National Guard to support additional testing sites in California.
The Newsom Administration
Newsome administration experiences struggled in recent days in fulfilling the governor’s promises towards his people to ensure test kits would hand over to California families before the children return to schools from winter break, an effort funded out of money appropriated last year by the legislator.
On Friday, Newsom distribute members of the California National Guard to testing sites across the state, next week an additional deployment was also scheduled. Guard members that will assist the patient check-in and crowd control responsibility, as well as serving as clinical staff until permanent hires are made.
Newsome will also ask lawmakers to provide additional COVID sick pay rules for Californians, and a supplemental paid sick leave for employees to care for themselves or a family member, that businesses with 26 or more workers offer up to two weeks of leave.
