On Monday, October 5, 2020, at noon PDT, Governor Gavin Newsom provided an update on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Newsom said COVID-19 cases are increasing across the county. It takes 20-30 days to see upticks in hospitalizations, he said.  California is stable now, but that could change.  "Let us not take down our guard."

He also addressed the latest COVID-19 numbers.  The state's coronavirus numbers are still trending down.  Specifically, he reported there were 3,055 new COVID-19 cases on October 4^th, with a 3,074 case average for the past week.  The positivity rate is “holding steady” at 2.8 percent in the most recent 14 day period and 2.6 percent over 7 days.  Also, hospitalizations and ICU patients continue to decline— 13 percent decrease in COVID-19  hospital admissions over the past 14 days and 15 percent decrease in COVID-19 ICU admissions over the past 14 days.  The decrease in hospitalization and ICU rates, however, are "plateauing", he said.

Tomorrow (and every Tuesday), Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly will provided an update on how counties are faring under the state’s reopening framework.  Recall, there are 4 colored tiers - widespread is purple, substantial is red, moderate is orange,  and minimal is yellow.  

Currently, the California county tier status stands as follows:

• PURPLE: 18 counties
• RED: 22 counties
• ORANGE: 15 counties
• YELLOW: 3 counties

“We anticipate some more counties tomorrow moving into yellow tiered status," said Newsom.  He also hinted that a new reopening tier could potentially be introduced at "the end of the year,"  and suggested he wants counties to eventually move out of the yellow reopening tier (currently the tier with the least restrictions).  However, no additional details were offered.

As always, Newsom closed by imploring Californians to wear a mask, physically distance, wash their hands, and minimizing mixing.  

During the Q&A portion of the briefing, Newsom was asked about the trigger cuts in the state budget set to take effect on October 15^th.   He responded by stating that he is “still hopeful” that the state will get aid from the federal government via a stimulus package at some point.

Regarding layoffs recently made by Disney and other large corporations, Newsom was asked what is being done to address the issue beyond unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.   The Governor used the opportunity to hammer the point that federal stimulus is needed.   

He was asked if he has been tested for COVID-19.  Newsom said he continues to practice what he preaches in terms of wearing masks and practicing physical distancing.   He confirmed he has been tested on multiple occasions and has tested negative.

The briefing concluded at 12:52 PM PDT.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19.  There are now a total of 823,729 (+0.5 percent increase) confirmed positive cases and 16,120 (+0.3 percent) deaths in California.  As of October 4^th, there have been 15,160,287 tests conducted in California and reported to the California Department of Public Health.  More information regarding the most recent COVID-19 statistics can be found here. 

The https://www.covid19.ca.gov/ website is being updated continuously.  A complete list of the state’s ongoing COVID-19 response efforts can be found here.

Naomi Padron

Legislative Advocate

McHugh Koepke & Associates

1121 L Street, Suite 103

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 930-1993

www.mchughgr.com