Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday night essentially said California would be short of about 17,000 hospital beds to deal with the expected wave of COVID-19 cases.
“We’ve got about 3,000 beds now that we have lined up and identified in the short term. Part of the 20,000 the state will be responsible for identifying. Roughly 17,000 -- I don’t mean to throw too many numbers to confuse folks -- but 17,000 we need to start stacking in terms of resources throughout the state of California. And that’s why we’re identifying convention facilities, fairgrounds. We’re identifying specific assets throughout the state, including motels and hotels.”
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued this dire warning today: “We have the highest and the fastest rate of infection. What happens to New York is going to wind up happening to California, and Washington State, and Illinois. It’s just a matter of time.”
He noted that New York has 10 times the cases of California now, and not nearly enough beds or ventilators.
Journalist Thomas Fuller wrote about California’s struggle to prepare for COVID-19 cases.