Sacramento, CA, 3-11-2020 – California Governor Gavin Newsom gave this press conference this morning. What follows is the raw transcript from the YouTube video. It’s accurate to about 97 percent from review. Some effort was made to break what was one long go of text into the appropriate paragraphs.
Here’s the full transcript:
Testing where we are as a state and answer any questions that you have the current number of positive Californians totals 157 that number is 24 more than was just yesterday roughly 15 percent greater. We currently as you have all reported we had our second COVID-19 related death in the state of California in Santa Clara County. First one of course number of days ago in Placer County we still are monitoring the 1540 individuals that came off the Grand Princess after its first voyage down to Mexico back to San Francisco. 12 individuals of those 1540 have been identified as positive.
It’s important to note as it relates to that cohort that they are now past that 14-day period. That is not in and of itself reassuring, but it gives you a sense of how we from an epidemiology perspective looking to monitor those individuals.
Speaking of monitoring we are still monitoring 10300 individuals that came in on commercial flights throughout the state of California in 49 health jurisdictions. That’s the broad strokes as you know yesterday some 407 passengers came off the Grand Princess 149 Californians went up to Travis Air Force Base.
We had a number of others that were repatriated in Canada some 232 Canadians of those 407 we had 26 individuals that went to regional hospitals in six different counties in the state. What was encouraging is not all of them needed hospital care and a number of them are now being located to appropriate sites that are being secured. Those sites include hotels and motels throughout the state.
I can talk more about where those are located and talk to you about the protocols and procedures related to how we are organizing those resources and those individuals. But, that is broad strokes – what happened yesterday as of 1 o’clock today we have been successful in moving 269 additional individuals off the Grand Princess. And 171 came in for buses up to Travis and three buses were assembled and brought the tarmac for a flight or maybe multiple we’re figuring out exact logistics those flights have not taken off, but they’re 98 individuals that will be heading to Lachlan in Texas.
So 269 as of 103 this afternoon are off the boat. We continue the protocols in process to get the rest of Californians off with priority, of course, the most acute first Californians, second, and non-Californians that will be secured either in Lockland or in Dobbins and Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia or on our own Air Force bases as needed as they’re processed into potentially 24 states.
I’ll remind you we have 54 countries represented on the boat, and that includes the crew. 24 states represented on that ship. So from a logistics perspective what they’re trying to do is send people closer the extent possible to their home state, and that’s by the determination between Texas and or Georgia is being considered.
Texas, I think, is softening its position I’m certainly hopeful of that and one can confirm that but we’re told they’re softening a little bit on just taking Texas, Texas residents. Certainly, our point of view that as Americans we all should do our fair share and I’m grateful that Lachlan is being opened up in Texas but we hope they can brought in to help with logistical operation here in the state of California to ease our efforts in the state.
So that’s currently where we are in the Grand Princess and again I’m happy to answer detailed questions about where we hope to be going over the course of the next number of hours through the rest of the day and over the course of the next day or two of that operation.
But first, I want to go through a number of other issues testing is top of mind in the state of California we’ve tested 1075 individuals as of this morning we have currently in our 18 labs we currently have 18 labs that are processing tests throughout the state of California we have 7675 tests that are available throughout that system we have a 19th lab that just received the test but hasn’t begun the process of those diagnostics but will be shortly in addition to that as it’s been reported we have our first commercial testing that now is taking place in the state of California quest in San Juan Capistrano conducted roughly 100 tests yesterday they have the capacity to substantially more and will over the course of the next days and weeks just that lab alone that quest lab we estimate some 1,200 tests can be processed but that is one of three labs that quest will be operating in the state of California
I think West Hills was another one of the labs that will be coming online and Sacramento lab Qwest lab also becoming online when those two labs come online in addition to San Juan Capistrano and the 1,200 tests they can process there we will have the capacity on a daily basis just in quests commercial support in the state of California to process in excess of 5,000 tests on a daily basis as much as 5,500 but in that range 5000 to 5500 those other two labs the other two quest labs we anticipate being open in a few weeks we have a rough estimate of March 24th but I want to just caution you that we have a rough estimate of March 24th they have automation capacity that requires support and I want to get in too many details here but they’ve got to get some support from Roche and other manufacturer once they get approvals they will be able to package these fully automated labs and we believe again that will be happening by March 24 so by roughly March 24th well the capacity to test over 5,000 individuals just in those labs if that indeed occurs and we are within that we certainly have that expectation that will allow us to conduct differently our lab diagnostics and testing where we’ll do more complicated tests and we’ll do more community surveillance we’ll begin to shift that burden a little bit from our own labs and broaden that burden to our commercial private partners as well as our hospitals.
And it should be noted that currently two hospitals in the state system are doing their own tests and we anticipate over the course of the next few days some of our academic medical institutions will also be conducting tests so I’ll repeat you’ve got our state labs 18 that are currently conducting tests 7675 tests within that system you have to hospitals in the state that are currently conducting tests and we have quest that is conducting tests at one lab San Juan Capistrano and we’ll be expanding their capacity as the hospital system Oh expand theirs as well.
I will happily answer questions related to testing protocols and some next steps we have in mind including the prospect of centralizing our community testing capacity which is the next iteration of our testing protocols and also orient you around some of the issues of testing that continue to create stress both from public’s understanding of the testing protocols and also in our capacity to deliver on the expectation that those tests are being conducted in a timely manner
I met yesterday with all 58 county superintendents and our public education system I met with our big 13 mayor’s as well yesterday talking about their needs and expectations as you know last Saturday we laid out specific strategies and protocols and guidelines for our public education system including our charter schools are private institutions and our institutions of higher learning we discussed those we discussed some of the unique characteristics that exist in each part of our state we discussed the prospects of school closures but what that means issues for low-income students the issues and pressures on those communities to deliver meals and to deliver in a safe way the needs of the broader community particularly for those parents that need pride for caregiving and don’t have the capacity to leave work that may be hourly employees or others that don’t have savings and the stresses this could create more broadly that a community and I’m happy again to answer any questions as it relates to what those recommendations and guidelines are and the feedback we received from our public education partners final point we continue to work very collaboratively with the administration CDC HHS s and with the vice president’s task force.
As in addition to that we also working very collaboratively with other governors throughout the United States that are offering insight best practices and sharing information in real time as we iterate and move into the next level around the issue of kovat 19 so that is an overview broadly of where we are and I’m happy to answer any questions about next steps again on testing what I think will happen with social distancing what has already happened in Santa Clara County as of yesterday as it relates to guidance related to large events where we anticipate being there our capacity as a health care delivery system to meet the needs of those that may test positive and of course to deal situationally and quite substantively with the next few days of moving people off the Grand Princess and getting that Grand Princess back out on to or rather back out into sea
So happy to answer any questions the crew of the able to wired they were being kept on board if there’s it wasn’t even safe for the passengers are they being separated where’s it gonna be taken and as far as getting the passengers off they were kept together as was that deemed safe in some fashion there yeah we the crew there’s 1113 crew members disproportion a number of them are from overseas.
We are working with the consulates constant generals and others and our foreign counterparts the State Department about the prospect of repatriating members of the crew but the crew are staying on board to make sure the passengers are secured and to make sure that they have the capacity once the passengers are processed off boarded not only California residents but non California residents and foreigners not just the Canadians of which 232 were repatriated in Canada but other foreigners are repatriated in their home countries to make sure that they can move that boat out they can operate that boat and they can get that boat safely out to sea.
As you know we had original one test positive 19 of them were crew members two more individual passengers of the 2421 passengers we are processing those two individuals we process them yesterday with priority because they tested positive they’re part of that 26 individual cohort that was sent out into six different counties for support and care yesterday as it relates to the protocols of how we process individuals as I noted those most in need first Californians second non Californians third and ultimately we’ll deal with the crew but within that are the challenges and protocols of keeping families together which is never easy someone may have symptoms someone may be asymptomatic someone may have a loved one that wants to travel with an individual that we may deem necessary to go to a hospital to get further diagnostic diagnostics and consequences of that are difficult so we’re in real-time and trying to figure those protocols out and some of those have been written about some of those are heartwarming stories they’re human stories and we have to make decisions in real time of how we conduct and process those but we’re trying to keep families together that’s a top of priority for all of us and working within the healthcare system to do that in a safe and secure manner
We’re also trying to alleviate the stress and I will acknowledge this all 26 individuals didn’t need to go to the hospital in many respects that’s a good thing because the worst thing we could have done is not send people a hospital and then found out later they should have been sent in this case through an abundance of caution they were sent and not everybody needed to be in the acute environment that’s good news which means we can then move them but for those individuals they had preferred not to have that first step now we’re moving them to multiple locations we are securing hotels and motels in multiple sites throughout the state of forney have been working on this process for the now last week or so since we first anticipated this ship arrival into Northern California
Those include sites in Monterey County State Park that we have secured eight rooms for individuals that are in the santa clara system that were sent yesterday we have sites in and around Burlingame and San Carlos that are safe and secure sites that are quarantined where there’s no community engagement again these are people that don’t need to be in a hospital but will be sent here anyway for an abundance of caution to complete their quarantine period these are the folks that are not being quarantined for the 14 days on the military sites again Travis being the only site currently we have sent individuals for quarantine Miramar will be the next site where we’ll begin to process people in Southern California closer to San Diego
So that gives you a sense of some of the geographic area so where people are we have deeply well established protocols as it relates to not only again securing those facilities but making sure that the staff support the medical support has the appropriate protective gears gear and that people are processed in a very orderly and deliberative manner we’re getting to the crew where again we’re gonna we’re gonna take care of everybody in need and to the extent anybody regardless of whether or not they’re passengers or crew or in need of emergency care and acute care they’re being provided that to the extent they’re not we are prioritizing I’ll repeat those were the most medical need regardless of who they are California residents non California residents including foreigners and then processing the protocols on the crew and as I noted originally the expectation was all 1113 crew members would be quarantined on the ship and the ship would then be moored off the host that now is being reconsidered in this context that there’s the prospect that a number of those crew members will be repatriated that’s a work in progress with the State Department and with those foreign governments in to the extent I have more information on that I’ll let you know but no one has the details beyond what I’ve expressed because those are current negotiations and conversations.
Many parts, one body. I mean we’re a nation state. This is not a small isolated state the state of California 40 million strong 58 counties 480 plus or minus cities local jurisdictions school districts County superintendents local superintendents independent school boards so what we’re doing is a bottom-up process not a top-down process we’re providing guidance in concert and collaboration with the federal government and we are sending that down but we are also trying to standardize the guidance and standardize the protocols in his consequence we have been in constant contact with local health officials conference calls with health care providers not just traditional hospitals in the hospital system but community based care those with developmental disabilities and the like and obviously with the school districts proper and we are looking for first and you’ll see that in the protocols we set forth on Saturday.
You’ll see gradation and protocols there’s four different variants and those variants all include local health care interfacing so that we get the local frame first before it’s fed into the statewide system but we certainly have strong opinions around how we should standardize that delivery system we have p.m. ik plans that include the aggregate of the sum total of all of our assets throughout the state but each in every county is experiencing different set of circumstances on the for example santa clara county it was identified in the federal report that came out there were four states that were identified as particular areas of concern around community spread the only Arian state of California identified by the CDC in the current variant of that report was the county of Santa Clara so Santa Clara’s protocols are going to be quite different than other parts of the state that have no community spread and have a different set of criterion conditions.
That’s why we haven’t set forth it as example to have all six million of our public school students be sent back home because in each in every district each and every County conditions are different that also includes social distancing more broadly defined not just with our public education private education or higher education system but also with large events Santa Clara I thought wisely last night advised social distancing for crowds larger than a thousand I think it’s inevitable you’re gonna hear a lot more from other counties and communities advancing the same and we are working in concert advising counseling we put out guidance on social distancing and we are advising many of those counties and they are being very collaborative in terms of accessing the state expert not there yet I mean this is a dynamic process but I can assure you we’re not there yet.
I’m well equipped to every California is well equipped of the credible capacity of our guard they’ve been aiding in advancing our wildfire suppression efforts as you know I’m pulled a number of them off the border for what I thought was a political mission and move them to help us with vegetation and forest management they’ve been incredibly instrumental in not only prevention but also some remarkable collaboration around suppression in the state we have second to none the best Guardsmen in the United States I would argue some of the most highly qualified individuals any jurisdiction in the world but right now we have no identified need to utilize them I think I think it really is a bottom up frame
I think you go local you work with your regional partners your relationships and then you link into the state and I think the state really is point in that respect is relates to the operations on the Grand Princess that’s different that’s through this framework called a spur which is under the HSS agency and that’s in partnership with CDC they’re leading that mission with the support of the state but as it relates to local decisions we localize those decision-making trees and then we work hand in glove with the state state providing the kind of guidance that we benefit from our analysis on the ground of other counties but also our daily interaction and I say daily almost hourly interaction with the federal government that is also advising some of them supplies of like emergency gear ranging from I mean we’ve talked about masks but also I know the state used to have these giant like portable tent hospitals in its possession
Do we still have those and what’s the what’s the status of the supplies? You may recall I was standing here a few weeks back talking about another challenge the state has and one would appropriately refer to as a crisis of homelessness by the way that is also very relevant in the novel coronavirus conversation and we have an advisory coming out on that in fact just interestingly when working on that all morning and that will come out later we hope either today or early tomorrow morning but as it relates to the fundamental frame and now I’ve lost my train of thought moving off the homeless but to the broader issues of making sure – what was your question again I forgot forgive me yes please, we are we are amply supplied as you know we had the 21 plus million masks that we had already stored from our previous pandemic plans and supplies a lot of them were in cold storage and we worked with the FDA
We’re do this CDC to avail ourselves of the utilization of those n95 masks the higher quality masks we have appropriate protective gear but I will make this point the gloves and the masks and the kind of protective gear that’s required to do the kind of testing that I hope we’ll be able to advance we are monitoring that closely and that’s why I think it would be wise and I made this point just a moment ago on centralizing some of our community testing we’re looking to do that.
Mark gali who’s here has been directed to put together a team that includes Kaiser UC Stanford University and others they’re already organizing a framework potentially centralize these testing hubs that would also reduce the stress of the personal protective equipment and make sure that we have ample supplies and also would help advance our testing protocols we’re also working with quests to provide for the diagnostics of those community centralized tests Santa Clara County for shutting down these large events the Kings have a home game of blocks away from here tomorrow night and Sacramento County hasn’t made that same decision they say they’ve given up on containment at this point though so
I’m a little bit curious how you’d address the disconnect for Californians who are looking at these very extreme steps happening in some parts of the state well events are going on elsewhere? I don’t see it as a disconnect at all I think the conditions are distinctive in Santa Clara and I think that definitely highlights that and the number of cases in Santa Clara distinguishes Santa Clara now Sacramento is not far behind and I think it’s in all of our interests that the Santa Clara health officials make recommendations and we’re guiding those recommendations but you ask me if you are asking me my personal opinion about large events like sporting events I found it quite curious and I mean this with respect may not come across this way but I found it quite curious that the four major organizations NHL Soccer Major League Baseball and the NBA put out guidelines to protect their hat elites but not their fans and I found that curious and I think they owe you and their fan base and answers to why is it more important to keep you as reporters away from their players in the locker room than keeping fans in highly contagious parts of the country together so I think it is incumbent upon not only those leagues but I agree with you local health officials to assess the conditions and make those determinations and I can assure you those will be forthcoming.
I don’t want to get ahead of local decisions but you’re gonna be hearing a lot more as you’ve been hearing about large-scale events concerts tennis tournaments and other events including parades that are being canceled all across the country all across the state take the proactive step of canceling games are taking I think they I think the local health officials should make those determinations but I think the league’s owe their fans more than just consideration of their players I think they also should consider more broadly the public that’s correct it’s it’s an accurate statement I can lie I can mislead you to suggest otherwise but I’d be doing just that misleading you and lying but let me just tell you what if we’re gonna continue that streak of collaboration cooperation.
Here’s what they need to do next we need and you need to I think all of us in the public need to understand this and I think we can use your support here as members the press testing kits are not a test there’s a lot of misinformation or lack of information I don’t even think it’s misinformation I think people just unaware many of these test kits are like printers but without ink the Kitt’s don’t include all the components to test you need reagents it’s more their language and their expertise than mine but you need other components to ultimately test that’s the disconnect so what you’re hearing from the administration what you’ve heard from us we have 7675 tests available but not every one of those tests can be accessed because all the ingredients are not available at all of the labs by the way the ingredients are not just reagents they also are personnel and so all of those things are compounding the communication challenge I think not only administration’s having but everybody’s having about why it is that some people are claiming they have tests but then you talk to local officials say well we don’t so here’s what we’re doing
Not only have we been very aggressive with the CDC demanding that the reagents be part of the support network not just the test kits themselves but also we’re working with our private commercial partners for example quest to deal with any of the backlogs that we have in the state by an estimate of a few hours ago we have anywhere from 180 to 200 on the high end tests that are backlogged that quest is committed to helping us process so that’s I know offering more questions for you than answers but I think this is an incredibly important part of the national conversation that we have not had on the testing program the test kits are not an entire test and people need to know that and I think that it would be very helpful if our task force national task force communicates that with more clarity so that
we at the local level can do the same for people trying to access those tests using our they facilities or hotels where other guests are staying 100% no one else is in these you’re gonna have hotels with just a handful of people that are completely empty in other parts of the hotel these are 100% secured 100% segregated from the general public secured not only relates to security but secured from protocol perspective processing perspective personal protective gear perspective medical overlay perspective these are perhaps some of the most safe sites in the community because of all these additional protocols and remember these are not people that are symptomatic that need to and be in the hospital these are people that were just monitoring through the incubation process that went into the hospital system first and we’re determined not to be needed rather didn’t need to stay in those hospitals and again our biggest focus right now is to keep people out of the acute care facilities that don’t need to be in there so that we could provide access not just for COVID-19 patients but for the broader panoply of issues that we face on a daily basis including the flu season they were they were processed off the boat in the priority that I established a moment ago where we triage the passengers prioritized those that we felt were most in need medically and they were processed as most anemic.
Let me give you an example a elderly woman in a walker that people weren’t sure and they had tested she wasn’t necessarily didn’t have a fever but she would be in a high concern category and they felt there an abundance of caution to send her as an example to a hospital hospital comes in says she’s perfectly fine she doesn’t need to be here everyone’s relieved by that but now she’s not in the bus to Travis or to Lachlan and now we want to bring her into a community setting that’s more appropriate because she still may develop needs because she is in a position that’s particularly vulnerable.
And so we’re trying to segregate people along those lines this is just deep common sense and an abundance of caution and sometimes an abundance of caution you over correct and I would say one of the protocols as of yesterday that will be improved is that triaging of those patients so we don’t burden the hospital system I think there was old I don’t want to say there was a concern where some of the hospital folks saying wait we have patients but these are not people in acute condition again thankfully that was not the case and we wanted to secure the hospital administration are worried that we were going to see multiples of more individuals so we’ve improved those protocols
Number two we also have another protocol we need to improve and that’s self-evident many of you have cell phone numbers and skyping you’re zooming in and talking to passengers on the boat and they want to hear folks talk to them in real-time in to the extent they’re listening to this let me deeply empathize with those passengers because they’re watching the news they’re listening the captain they’re not necessarily familiar in real-time what’s happening on the ground that creates anxiety and stress they don’t know where they’re going am I gonna stay in California am i flying to Georgia am i flying to Texas I’m ever gonna get back home overseas and so we are improving those protocols it was a big part of our early morning readout sort of our acts after-action reporting from yesterday to improve real-time communication today trust me when I say this that’s a work in progress but we’re trying to get the captain to communicate more real-time information and we’re trying to provide that information up the chain to the captain so that those passengers who are deeply anxious and all they want to go is not just be healthy but get it home be with their loved ones know when that will happen so that’s been improved in real-time as well along that line any estimated timeline for getting them all off
Do you have a further breakdown on where which other countries they came from and will they have to do the full 14 day quarantine if they’ve already been an isolated four? Yeah there’s no time served so to speak in your cabin it’s 14 days from point of demarcation in this case for the California residents disproportionately to date and to Travis those will go down to Miramar Lockland and the 14 day process begins number two as it relates to number countries I mentioned or rather referenced 54 countries 24 states we are assessing the exact locations how the numbers that are attached to those locations the vast majority were Canadians the 232 I mentioned today number from UK and then of course the passengers are rather the crew members just proportionally number from the Philippines and then other parts of the globe and that’s the State Department’s job and possibility role with our council generals and others foreign service folks to to address those needs two hours is there a change in protocol there yeah well that’s the I don’t know I can’t refer to the letter I have to take a look at that how many of those have gone out
And how are you prioritizing where they go? yeah we have 21 million so they’re made available to the health systems that are requesting them additionally as the governor mentioned that as we shift our own protocols the idea of how we test we’re expecting that each health systems sort of use raid might might be slightly reduced so we can rationalize the distribution to the most needy areas and as we as we get increasing need from community-based providers we are continuing to ask for reserve or orders we have other hundreds of thousands of other masks on orders so we’re trying to keep up with that demand but so far we’ve been able to distribute them to locations that have needed them largely hospitals so as different areas of our sort of economy and and business practices need mass were open to to receiving those needs and requests but so far our focus has been largely on the health care delivery system hospitals clinics and other areas.
I’m also curious for you knowing that we had cases and other places when you think realistically the virus could have spread to California? We obviously know when the first confirmed cases are but when you’re thinking about how this could have spread the community over time when was the when do you think how long do you think it’s been here I mean I mean it’s hard to know you know we have been busy on repatriation sites working on surveillance at our airports since January so certainly it could have been at that time we know that the the transmission of the virus there’s an incubation period anywhere from a couple few days up to 14 days so we aren’t exactly certain when it first came into California but we know that our surveillance systems are home monitoring approaches have allowed us to early on identify the most serious cases and as we move sort of through the progression of coronavirus across the state they will have a chance to identify additional cases through community spread so I mean our best estimate is sometime in January but we’re not exactly sir what about a smaller scale like riding the bus going to the movies
What do you say to Californians should they be worried about that? yeah I mean look as as we see more community spread and we see concentrations of community spread listen your local healthcare officials they’re putting out guidance in real-time almost on in it you know every few hours there’s new guidance coming out and and we are in constant contact and collaborating with those agencies to provide counsel and I would take those seriously look the common-sense self-evident I think everybody recognizes if you have a senior at home if you’re taking care of grandparent you should act as if you have the virus meaning you need to conduct yourself in a way that protects our elderly those with underlying conditions and broad strokes pre-existing conditions heart disease and other related issues and and I think those guidelines are wise and I think that’s why we’re disproportionately focused.
We didn’t talk today as we have in multiple previous occasions about health care for our seniors the assisted living facilities are nurse homes that’s a top priority for us as it relates to protocols and sanitation isolation protocols and the like but look we want to make sure that our seniors are protected and they’re our top priority and so to the extent we can avoid large social interaction with our senior community that would be the top priority broadly and then it’s more substantively and strategically in these communities that have been impacted by community spread yeah we have what we’re planning you have all kinds I mean we have pandemic plans there are the kind of plans that keep you up at night and they’ve been in place for a long time going back many many administrations so you can imagine when we run tabletop exercises and we have at our sock our state Operations Center which is at its highest level for no other reason than just to coordinate all of our human resources and state assets under one roof we’ve been running scenario plans just as an example on Friday we had over a hundred agency directors department heads and key personnel throughout the state of California we ran scenarios on the worst case spread analysis on moderate best-case and what that would do in terms of stretching our resources.
What do we do not only from a public health perspective photo public safety perspective those protocols included how you take care of schools and in terms of meals that need just remember 60% of our kids are on reduced or free lunch you open them are said they’re at 80% so that’s making this point 80% of Merced is a different conversation that’s 60 percent in the aggregate we don’t live in the aggregate so everything has to be designed with localized frame of reference so our pandemic planning operates accordingly so you hear numbers in the aggregate it doesn’t tell a real story the granular nature of the reality as this spreads throughout the state and throughout the country but but know we have those and you know I’m I’m not resigned to a fate undetermined we are prepared for whatever comes at us and we’re trying to mitigate and manage things it’s decisions not dis conditions that determine our fate and future society becomes how we behave we are our behaviors collectively and individually and all of us have a role to play
I sort of meet this moment to protect themselves to protect their loved ones to use common sense and these large events seemingly in areas where you have community spread I think it’s appropriate to begin the process of social distancing and I think these large music venues you already seen that happening large parades you’re seeing that happening and I think it’s inevitable you’re gonna start seeing that with large sporting events as well.
I’m sorry she was governor. Can you talk about your conversation with the superintendent yesterday specifically LAUSD and other SoCal schools? Yeah I mean each district has their own unique set of concerns and then there are broad strokes concerns that connect each and every one of us but LA in particular there was expressed concern around the issues of closure and impacts to low-income students particularly in mixed status families particularly in relationship to the federal public charge that’s impacting already the access and availability of federal support the impact of food-stamp decisions in this country that are impacting those families today those impacts would be exacerbated made worse with a school closure and the inability to access not just one but two meals breakfast and lunch so we talked in terms of what does it look like if one of the schools closed the entire system closed how do you provide access to those meals do we do it at libraries do we do it at parks do we have an online component but what do you deal with those that don’t have the capacity to do it online how is that organized and distributed but immigrant overlays were a big part of the specific conversation we were having in Los Angeles district yeah I’ve been spending most of my time at the operation center this is the probably the longest I have not been on a flight which is three days but I
I would not personally have real concerns but if I had grandparents I would for them and I expressed that I don’t think people should be on cruise ships that are all elderly I don’t think anyone regardless their age with an underlying health conditions should be on a cruise ship I don’t think people should be running out to you know high five one another and hug strangers as we often do it large sporting events if you have an underlying health condition or you’re elderly I don’t think that’s wise I think again that’s just common sense that’s not a stereo and there’s formal guidelines being processed county by county state by state and just anticipate that’s the next iteration of this the numbers will start growing I mentioned today we’re up fifteen percent from yesterday that number will grow and you’re gonna start getting into multiples where it’s likely you’re not even gonna report what we’re announcing today which is 157 because you know a week or so ago it was just a handful it’s gonna be multiples of that as we do more testing that’s inevitable that you’re gonna capture more and that could be a very comforting thing we don’t know what the numerator is so more we test gives us a better sense of what this really looks like that’s why the testing protocols are so critical.
So I just want to reinforce so important that we’re honest with the American people about what these test kits are and what they’re not they’re one component that requires other components when we separate from the commercial labs that’s a significant issue the commercial labs will mitigate and modify that substantively because they have more automated technology but it is something that I think goes to explain some of the disconnect you’re hearing we know how many people we’ve tested today against 1075 in California
But we just added two hospitals and we’re gonna start adding the private clinics and we’re going to start adding other academic and other research facilities that will then create a lag in the reporting and I just wanna warn you of that because right now the current protocol is if you test positive the hospitals tell you every 14 days we’re now working with the Hospital Association yesterday to see if we can come up with new protocol but those are the existing pandemic protocols
We’re gonna come new protocols we’re already working with quest to request that they provide real-time data on the number of tests yesterday they did 100 tests yesterday they have capacity it just San Juan Capistrano of 1200 tests so when you have more testing sites that’s a collection process it’s a little more challenging than me just saying in our 18 labs we’ve tested 1075 people and then you have additional burden that the CDC will have of taking local private community tests and then beginning to put those state numbers together and then aggregate those so they could provide those nationally so it’s going to become an even more challenging thing but the bottom line is we need more tests yeah that was what I was referring to and forgive me I I got I got my mind went to this press release that we’re putting out which is not a press release it’s really the protocols and procedures we’ve been working with cities large and small we talked to the big 13 mayor’s yesterday subsequently about homeless issues their concerns about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and its impact on their most vulnerable residents which disproportionate other people that are already struggling with bipolar disorder schizophrenia paranoia many of them self medicating drug or alcohol addictions and other related issues and flu season is very impactful obviously in populations out in the streets and sidewalks.
And so we are coming up with protocols as it relates to sanitary strategies isolation strategies and our shelters our supportive housing centers our drop-in facilities and putting those guidelines out in the next number of hours or all the passengers going to be tested for the virus and they were brought off in groups yes our concern about that that they if they weren’t in quarantine on board they’re brought off in very deliberative way they’re they’re brought up in small groups cohorts they all have protective gear on they’re very sensitive obviously the bus drivers have the appropriate protective gear a big part of the processing and protocols that we’ve been working on last few days we’re preparing the sites securing the sites protecting workers as our top priority that’s why even after the cruise ship docked yesterday there was a couple our leg just to make sure that we had secured the workers and those protocols but those protocols include the passengers as well they’ll be tested at Travis they’ll be tested at Laughlin they’ll be tested at Miramar they’ll be tested at knob ins they’ll be tested where they end up through that protocol process of quarantine which will initiate that 14 day that 14 days we have our legal team reviewing that we’ve made it clear to the task force the vice president of our concerns
As you know those concerns were reinforced in the last 72 hours where you had to cruise ships Southern California one there Long Beach one near Los Angeles we had a crew member that was on one of the previous cruises the Grand Princess Cruise ended up on this other cruise ship they needed to be tested that came back negative and that allowed that that ship to set sail we obviously are concerned about all the other ships that are off our Coast that are quote unquote birthed in the state of California even if they’re not flagged in the state of California I imagine and I assure you the governor of Florida and others are are looking at the same we are looking for clarity
As you heard last night and I just been sidetracked today with the processing and protocols related the Grand Princess but the vice president assured all the governor’s yesterday in a conference call and then during his press conference that he has new guidelines as it relates to cruise ship industry that he’s going to be making public he was in the receipt of those guidelines this morning I believe and he will be processing those were eager to hear what those protocols are but I cannot be more clear in terms of what I believe as governor of the state of California the largest state in the nation fifth largest economy on planet Earth that it is incumbent upon seniors and those with any medical conditions not to go on cruise ships and to begin to socially isolate themselves from larger crowds it’s just common sense and the cruise ship industry owes it to their own self-interests – I think advanced very aggressive protocols and new requirements apparel of that industry collapsing you know 12 miles off the coast international waters and then we’re in the United States waters three miles off the coast we’re in California waters as you know the ports are in trust but in trust local administrations you have localized ports that have port Commission’s typically appointed port commissioners but state lands three member body oversees those ports the reason I bring that up is the State Lands Commission has Authority that can offer a little more well elbow in sort of introducing its own considerations and thoughts it’s chaired every other year by controller and the lieutenant governor and member of my finance team
So there’s influence there by the elected officials in the state but as it relates to the cruise ship industry there tend to be foreign flag which is an issue as it relates to these ships coming on active military sites which their protocols that that distinguish between American flag ships and non American flag ships that cannot port at active military bases that restricted for example our ability to dock the current Grand Princess to a certain number of smaller number of locations that’s why it’s in the Oakland among one of the reasons it’s in the Oakland port but we are reviewing our legal authority to hold these things at bay but the Coast Guard is the dominant predominant point of influence and the bar pilots of which myself and others appoint members the bar pilots we have some additional oversight when these come closer to shore as the bar pilots then take over the operation of these and then you have union issues the ILWU longshoreman gene you also have strong influence so it’s forgive me for belaboring this it’s complicated and it’s a way of saying the complication is not that complicated just multi-layered I should say and we’re getting some clarity on where the real fists of legal authority comes the federal government through a spur protocols and CDC they’re running this operation and the protocols but in concert with the state of California our public health officials and local officials be in the port and be it the members of the city itself Mayor Libby Schaaf and her team and the county Alameda County and their health directors
So it’s a real partnership, but the direct line of authorities asper under HSS CDC they are the ones on board they’re the ones moving this protocol let me just make this point the current process and this goes to your question you had three-part question I got to two of the three let me go to the final part at the current processing we’re gonna be behind so we want to see that processing stepped up we’re trying to get to about a hundred people every hour and we want to see that happen and so that’s a work in progress and we’re just in you know we have barely been in 24-hour rotation of operation now so we’re getting a different cadence I gave you the number of people that are already off 407 to 69 day and then the 230 you know we went through all those numbers but we’re gonna need to see an increase in those processing in order to turn this ship around we don’t want to see it here for more than a week we want to see it here for 72 hours but look we’re gonna do what we need to do to keep people safe keep people healthy but we made commitments to the port we make commitments to the mayor’s office we were given commitments and assurance by the federal government
I’m not pointing fingers any logistics operation with human beings there’s an element that constantly requires adjustments and I can just assure you that we anticipate more adjustments over the course the next 24-48 hours yeah we so my budget which I presented here number of months ago two hundred twenty two point two billion dollar budget it’s my opportunity mine the rest of you and the American people that California runs surpluses it balances budgets we anticipate anticipated on the January budget we had five point six billion dollar budget surplus and we projected by the quarter a first quarter of this year that the SP would be at three thousand one hundred and twenty it’s lower than that but it’s you know that was our estimate.
We don’t live and die by the SP but we are impacted by the SP perhaps more than many other states because of the volatility and the nature of our tax structure so we’re watching this closely and that’s the wonderful thing about our process is we’re always watching it closely and we’ve always anticipated uncertainty you remember last year’s budget close to 80 percent of it one-time surpluses were used for one-time investments we are managing conservatively and the budget I presented in January manages conservative to the extent I can tighten it up with the may revise which I go through that process in April we will make adjustments accordingly I feel very confident in our ability to meet this moment from a budgetary perspective looking at the macroeconomics internationally nationally and in this state but we have to look at household economics as well and this is where I’m anxious all of us are anxious I’m a small business person as you know but with a blind trust so I won’t speak to what I don’t know which is how the businesses that I founded are faring in this economic environment but I’m well aware of the anxiety the people in the service industry of feeling people in the care sector are feeling particularly about their public health but also their hourly wages those that are janitors those that work hard every single day about a third of the population of state of California working full-time earning less than $15 an hour they do not have savings even in an economy as strong as ours has been don’t even have the ability to access a few hundred dollars in emergency those most vulnerable Californians and Americans are top of mind.
And that’s why I very encouraged by the discussions in Washington DC Capitol Hill been in constant communication with speaker Pelosi’s office our two senators talk directly to Speaker Pelosi 48 hours ago about specifics related to the eight point three billion dollar appropriation but in addition to that talked to her specifically about unemployment insurance and how she could impact some changes that allow people to access UI more quickly it’s an interesting and perverse fact to get input and employment insurance you have to be actively seeking work well in this environment that’s a little more challenging so we have a number of provisions that need to be waived also the ability to access UI more quickly we also are concerned about sick leave in the availability of sick leave of course California one of the best states for its requirements for not only its own employees but also more broadly for state-run businesses but we obviously are concerned about all of the above I think we can do better than just a payroll tax that’s not a critique that’s not a cheap shot I happen to personally believe but I’m just a governor of employment insurance not unemployment insurance and by the way I have some history with this when I was mayor of San Francisco during the economic downturn we took a portion of the stimulus money tens of millions of dollars and rather than doing unemployment insurance we subsidized directly and reimbursed employers to keep employees employed even if they weren’t at work I think there’s no more thoughtful and strategic way of addressing this crisis and considering projects along those same lines I have shared that with a lot of our federal representatives and it’s something that I think can be done at scale here in the state of California
We healthcare workers and maybe this questions for dr. angel wondering CD pH is looking there’s been obviously concern spread out for like the nurses unit health care workers I’m wondering CD pH is looking into you know making sure that training and preparedness is happening at healthcare facilities in hospitals we work very closely with the whole networks of providers across the state we hold regular meetings with them to make sure that they all understand where the state is on specific policies and procedures and to understand what their needs are in the face of this and so through all of those conversations in those regular meetings we are also checking in to understand where their needs are they all have very strong infrastructures of training
And so our our role in this is to support and understand if additional needs are there and then to understand how the state might move into those spaces to support them how that information can be shared with the Union we we certainly put it out there and we can explore other ways to make sure that the information goes out more broadly if there is a I mean with the nurses union with SEIU that principle provider of in-home supportive services for our seniors we certainly can strengthen those lines of communication but they are open lines of communication very directly in fact with the governor himself to leaders of those respective unions and we want to maintain that that line of communication look there was some concern around my proclamation of declaration of emergency in the state as relates to protocols and requirements procedures and regulations that could loosen some of the winds that were gained by some of those respective organizations in the past and we’re working to secure that those were not intended to be diluted or diminished with that declaration but this is again all part of an inner process.
I’m very proud of these guys I’ve been without their knowledge in some cases been chiming in on those big conference calls they’ve been doing I mean 24/7 this is all they’re doing in these conference calls with every group you can imagine and and you know what good enough never is there’s always need to do more strengthen those lines of communication and so to the extent we hear specific feedback we’ll try to be responsible we possibly can one nursing home up in Washington State with 18 deaths and and obviously growing concern over those nursing homes and I know the state is reluctant to impose any sort of top-down approach but is there some consideration being given to the idea of restricting who goes in and out of facilities like that given we’ve been mortality rate for whole duration and we’ve been very clear and we’ve been very proactive in setting forth guidelines and working throughout the system to be very clear as relates to protocols related to visitors protocols related to quickly and immediately isolating any individuals that are showing symptoms are symptomatic or tested positive so that they’re not sitting around those facilities so the answer is unequivocal yes and we’ve been proactive in that respect we’ve also been organizing for weeks now very detailed conversations one of the largest providers we were just talking about owns 90 plus facilities even trying to personalize some of those concerns because the scale and scope of his operation so I can assure you as
I said a moment ago that’s one of our top priorities.The New York Times is quitting American Health Care Association calling for no family visits? That’s in the spirit that’s in the spirit and and this is exactly I said what I said a moment ago intentionally as it relates to individuals that may not even be in these congregate settings and assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities in group homes and just in by the way it’s not just seniors disability community and the like both cognitive and physical that we should treat if you have in many people I was taking care of my father my sister and others families take care your kids take care of father’s dementia care you got it act as if and accordingly you need to make sure even within your household if people are home quarantined home quarantine when there’s seven or eight people running around means something very different than home call when you’re a single adult and so home quarantine needs to be nuanced as well
And it’s along those same lines of protocols that that kid that may still be going to school when he runs home to kiss grandpa doesn’t sneeze on grandpa you know just make sure we’re using common sense along those lines and so it extends even beyond these facilities but these facilities are top of mind of concern of course I mean of course be misleading you if I wasn’t concern about all of the above I care deeply about the legislature not as only as a body but individually so many them loved ones family members I care about their health I don’t care about their party affiliation I care about my team’s health and and so I also you know we’re monitoring all that we’re looking at distance as it relates to our own protocols and procedures look the whole point is to and this is a mantra in our office and I think it should be a mantra for everybody more publicly we want to maximize the disruption for non-essential events so we can minimize the impact of essential functions and events
I could repeat that but it’s important to get the gist of that what’s non-essential should be non-essential at this moment so that we can minimize the impacts the things that are essential and I think that not just from public safety perspective and public health perspective as it relates to large events and venues but as it relates to functions of government so you specifically brought up the CHP I think of the DMV I’m thinking of our capacity to telecommute but our IT capacity which is being assessed in real time we have calhr working to look at those protocols CalPERS has already moved forward with similar protocols on Distin as it relates to the work that they’re doing but they’re uniquely situated to do so I mentioned in-home supportive services I’m worried about that cohort of Californians where we have caregivers many of them seniors themselves taking care of other seniors with all kinds of unique challenges with socio-economic concerns so all of those things are I can assure you being assessed in real time and we’re taking them very very seriously conversations that was going to be a challenge in perfect that’s coming up this October you guys were ready to pounce on that and I know that we were we made progress.
You remember I stood up here during that budget presentation and say we’re a lot better than we were a year and a half ago but you know that’s that’s a middle-of-the-road process point meaning we’re well underway of reforms that have a long way to go but the realidie stress is not unique to California I think that exists and persist not think I know in every other state in this country it may be an opportunity for the federal government to consider and the aggregate the totality of that burden as it relates to how this coronavirus there’s novel coronavirus spreads we’ll see there’s a sense maybe in the summer in modulates mitigates we see numbers start stabilizing but big concern potentially in the fall and and so these things have coincidental time this is October in the fall where that anxiety may increase on the need to get the real ID but also around the time this novel virus may be coming back with some fury as well so we’ll work with the federal government on that and we’ll certainly work with our DMV field offices by the way those field offices are encouraging you go online our courage we’ve already stepped off our sanitation work and protocols not only with you know Purell and other forgive me for advertising that product but other products that individuals can access that really do need their IDs for just day-to-day functions not just driving but we really encourage people to go online because you could still do a lot of work automated work to minimize the time you may even be need to be in a field office
We’re not this moment closing down any field offices but this moment is not a moment in the future we’ll have to assess that in real time into clean communities where you’re seeing spread but I encourage we already working I encourage people to to try to find ways to avoid long lines on the natural but this may be a perfect opportunity at the DMV yeah well I’ll let them answer we were having this conversation before so an individual who has been exposed to somebody who has known COVID-19 or has been to one of the countries where it’s moving should be quarantined for 14 days the reason that it’s 14 days because that’s the incubation period so from the moment that you could have been exposed if you’re going to develop it you will develop it over the 14 days so that’s the most important time for you to stay isolated for you to not be around other people where you might be able to pass it to others
So the 14 day quarantine quarantine is what is recommended for those who’ve been exposed if you test positive you stay isolated until you have two negative tests so that you we know that you are completely done with the course of the infection so it’s 14 days for quarantine if you test positive it may be longer and specifically Sacramento now advising they have moved from containment to mitigation right so what’s very important about that is that there it’s a point in which taking people and quarantine e mem and doing what we call containment no longer is effective so in in this area where there is community spread there’s a point at which one says this is not the best way to address the needs in our community because we’re no longer containing it we need to move to a point of mitigation and when you move to a point of mitigation rather than focusing all of your resources on those people those individuals who may have come in contact with somebody who’s exposed you start thinking about using your resources more broadly and start thinking about those wrap arounds what we’re talking about face focusing on approaches that help to decrease exposure and those who might get into the most trouble should they they get infected that’s the point that we’re getting to now which is mitigation
That’s why you’re hearing this message of we’re no longer focusing on quarantined we’re focusing on broader community needs and that is the appropriate point in specific communities as it spreads anybody else can exhaust you questions services reached a settlement with PG&E in the bankruptcy case where they’re dropping their claims so can you are you stopping your statements before and you know that you weren’t happy with how the bankruptcy case was proceeding let me I Mis let me I’m that’s profoundly important question that will be answered Thursday and I’ll leave it at that thank you guys very very much.
Stay tuned.