Watch: California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives coronavirus update

California Governor Gavin Newsom gave a coronavirus update at noon Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The news conference was livestreamed on Facebook and Twitter.

You can watch the news conference by clicking on the video below.

Although early numbers indicate California may be slowing its rate of infection, Newsom has declined to declare California’s efforts to “flatten the curve” a success.

The state’s stay-at-home order, which has shuttered nonessential businesses like bars and hair salons, has bought the state’s hospitals time to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 patients, Newosm said. But rapidly escalating hospitalization and intensive care unit rates for coronavirus patients show the state isn’t out of the woods.

More than 1,800 people with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 respiratory illness are hospitalized. Roughly 774 are in intensive care, Newsom said Wednesday.

County data shows more than 150 people have died.

The Newsom administration predicts California will need 50,000 more hospital beds on top of the 75,000 that the hospital system already had before COVID-19 began, with a peak anticipated around mid-May.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Watch: California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives coronavirus update."