As the total number of coronavirus cases in California topped 15,000, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he is confident in the state’s procurement of ventilators and hospital beds to meet the demand.
So confident, in fact, that he announced on Monday that the state was donating 500 ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile to deploy in states that need them more, like New York, which has already received ventilators from Oregon, Washington and from China.
“We feel confident in our capacity to meet our needs as we support the needs of others,” Newsom said, adding that the ventilators are being ‘lent’ and could be returned if necessary down the road.
The generosity comes in the weeks after California — and other states — launched massive efforts to stockpile medical supplies and personal protective equipment to prepare before a surge of coronavirus patients overwhelmed the Golden State’s hospitals. California’s clout and partnerships with tech companies and other manufacturers have helped it amass supplies while its early adoption of stay-home orders have so far pushed back the expected crush of patients that New York and New Jersey are experiencing.
“We can do certain things to punch above our weight,” Newsom said during a news conference on Monday inside the Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the NBA Sacramento Kings, , one of many facilities around the state being converted into an overflow hospital. “And we carry a big weight, but to the extent that other Americans need our support, our largesse, and to the extent that we have the resources, we’re going to be there for as many people as we possibly can.”
As of Sunday evening, 15,161 positive COVID-19 tests were reported in California — a 35% increase since Friday morning, according to data compiled by this news organization.
During a news conference on Monday, Newsom said that the number of people hospitalized due to coronavirus had increased 4.9% overnight to 2,509 and the number of patients in ICU beds has increased by 4.3% to 1,085.
There are 7,345 ICU beds in the state, of which 1,498 are in the Bay Area, according to a recent analysis by Kaiser Health News.
The state has a goal of identifying 50,000 additional hospital beds to complement the 70,000 licensed beds within the state’s hospital system. The state has asked hospitals to identify 30,000 beds that could be repurposed to serve a surge in COVID-19 patients and is working with partners to find another 20,000.
The state has increased its number of ventilators from about 7,600 to more than 11,000 in recent weeks. It has also secured 4,316 additional hospital beds — a fourth of the overall goal — outside of the state’s current hospital system, including transforming the Kings former arena and the Santa Clara County Convention Center into temporary medical facilities for acute patients and taking over Seton Hospital in Daly City.
Over the weekend, the number of pending tests in the state fell from 59,900 to 15,000. The state has now received results from more than 116,000 tests, meaning fewer than one in five are coming back positive.
In the Bay Area, the number of confirmed cases is expected to hit 4,000 on Monday.
Dozens more died over the weekend, bringing the number statewide to 347. In the Bay Area, the death toll is nearing 100.
This story will be updated.
