Watch: California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives coronavirus testing update Saturday
Gov. Gavin Newsom gave an update on California’s efforts to combat the coronavirus Saturday. In the address, Newsom unveiled plans to address the state’s COVID-19 testing backlog with the launch of a public-private task force aimed at ramping up surveillance.
You can watch it the recorded livestream here, or by clicking the video below:
Newsom announced the partnership — led by Dr. Charity Dean, assistant director of the state Department of Public Health, and Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California — will combine efforts and resources across the state in what Newsom described as a new approach to increase and “deaggregate” testing results, providing them faster to state officials and the public.
Newsom and other officials also said a new blood test by Stanford researchers, “hours” away from FDA approval, could determine who has recovered from the virus or had immunity.
Newsom said the partnership includes the work of UC Davis, UC San Diego and Stanford among other others to reduce the turnaround time for a variety of ways in which government facilities and private labs are processing tests. He said that “five to seven” new lab hubs would be created geographically to help in the effort, but said getting firm testing numbers could take “a few weeks.”
California has expanded the number of labs testing for the virus, which causes the COVID-19 respiratory illness, to include commercial, academic and public health labs. However, the state still has a huge backlog. Nearly 127,000 tests have been conducted in the state, and only 13,000 of those are still pending, Newsom said, a stark reduction from Friday’s figure of 60,000 from the California Department of Public Health.
The labs are overwhelmed by escalating demands and hampered by shortages of test swabs, chemicals and personal protective equipment for workers collecting samples and running tests, Newsom says.
Experts say the delays in testing make it difficult to track where the disease is hitting hardest, and in turn, allocate medical staff and resources where they are needed most.
Newsom also said hospital officials statewide are working with Abbott Laboratories to increase point-of-care tests, which can take 15 minutes or less to produce a result, at 75 sites among the state’s 13 major hospital systems including Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente, among others.
Newsom also unveiled a new website aimed at gathering the mass of supplies of personal protective equipment needed in the days and weeks ahead as well as offering a clearinghouse for manufacturers and other businesses to lend supply and technical expertise. The website is covid19supplies.ca.gov.
The governor also gave an update on some of the latest numbers of hospitalizations, saying 2,300 people are being treated for the virus that causes COVID-19 in California hospitals with 1,008 people being treated in intensive care units, a 10.9 percent increase from the day before. He also said the number of confirmed cases rose to 12,026.
Newsom said that represented a 12.4 percent increase from the day before, but was consistent with the rate of increase officials have seen in the past several days, as the state continues to shelter in place and eliminate all but essential travel and interaction.
The number of Californians with medical experience who have signed up for the Health Corps initiative has totaled about 79,000, according to Newsom. He said officials were working to process those applications, some of which were submitted by existing medical workers, quickly.
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 11:42 AM with the headline "Watch: California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives coronavirus testing update Saturday."