California Governor Gavin Newsom July 1 Press Conference Transcript

Governor Gavin Newsom: (04:39)
Good afternoon everybody and thank you again for the privilege of your time, the opportunity to catch up and check in and discuss where we are with this pandemic. Yesterday I previewed an announcement that I’ll be making today as it relates to efforts to modify our health orders here in the state of California. I’ll go through a series of slides that lay out our case, our argument and why we feel it’s appropriate to make these announcements here today, and what the conditions are that continue to persist throughout the state of California, that compel us to make these decisions. Bottom line is the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning. We’re seeing parts of the state where we are seeing an increase in not only the total number of positive cases, but a significant increase in the total number of people that are getting tested that are testing positive.

Meaning the positivity rate, not just the total case rate is beginning to go up to a degree that obviously generates some concern. Consequence, we are doing everything we can to focus in on certain sectors of our economy, where that spread is more to occur, where that spread can be potentially more concentrated and try to mitigate that spread the extent we can. Working with health officials all across the state of California, not only here at the state itself, but within counties, large and small up and down the state. Now, we have worked together to put out the following new guidelines in the state. Certain sectors of the state we are now requiring they closed their indoor operations due to the spread of the virus. This applies to all counties that have been on what we refer to as the County Monitoring Lists for at least three consecutive days.

I put out a list a number of days ago, we talked about 11 counties being on that list increased to 15. A couple of days back, we referenced 19 counties that are on that list. And so all the counties and I’ll give you the list of those counties here in a moment that have been on that list for at least three consecutive days, will be required to take the following targeted action guidance by the way, action that we anticipate and expect will remain in place for at least three weeks. Again, I’ll remind all of you that the framework we engage in is bottom up, not top down. Again, California said on many occasions size of 21 states populations combined. As a consequence conditions, dynamics related to the spread of this disease in different parts of the state distinguish themselves from other parts of the state.

So when we talk about this dimmer switch, which we’ve been talking about for many, many months, not an on and off switch, but a dimmer switch it’s based upon local conditions that [vance 00:07:43] our ability to mitigate the spread of this virus. Those 19 counties, again, that are been impacted by our action, these are the counties that have been on the watch list for at least three consecutive days. Those counties large and small all up and down the state, remember California has 58 counties. These are 19 counties within the state, but these 19 counties represent over 70% of the population here in the state of California. With that we have specifically targeted our efforts to close in door operations. And I want to reinforce this in door operations in restaurants, wineries, and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment, broadly defined by guidelines that we had previously put out zoos, museums and card rooms in this state.

I should note an anticipation for a question that we have casinos in the state of California that are operating, tribal sovereign nations. We are working very collaboratively as we did with the original stay at home order and working with the guidelines that we put forth to allow them to make modifications to their operations so they could reopen in certain counties in the state of California. We are in deep conversations and we’ll be making public the fruits of those efforts to at least get a rationale of understanding between our partners and our sovereign nations and the state of California.

So indoor operations, this doesn’t mean restaurants shut down. It means that we’re trying to take activities as many activities as we can. These mixed activities, these concentrated activities and move them outdoors, which is a way of mitigating the spread of this virus. Not dissimilar by the way, some of these actions as you’ve seen in other States across the country. Again, based upon information that come back from our health directors and from evidence that has been grounded and provided to us all across the world, not just across the rest of the nation, as it relates to the unique characteristics of being indoors for an extended period of time, an airflow issues and the prospect of increased transmission of COVID-19.

We have as well made, very clear our concerns around bars operating in the state of California. We had originally, and this was on Sunday, put out guidelines for seven counties that prohibited bar operations. We had recommended for an additional number of counties, seven additional counties. So there were total, excuse me, of 15 counties that we had originally mandated or recommended bar closure with the addition of four counties now, on that three-day watch list, we were just moving forward to close the operation of all of those bars and all of the 19 counties that I had just put forth.

Additionally, we are concerned as we have been a very vocal and very candid about it in the past about activities concentration, activities out on our state beaches. I was very grateful to be, well opportunity to engage as we have with local health officials in Ventura County in LA County and elsewhere. Venture and LA are just two examples where their local elected officials, their local health officers have moved forward to make modifications in terms of accessing their beaches this weekend. The state of California has not mandated the closure of beaches this weekend, but we are modifying our parking facility operations and closing them to traffic throughout the Southern California region, as well as parts of Monterey County, Santa Cruz in through the Bay area and up along the North coast, all the way up to Sonoma County. And that information is on our parks website, but that is the new mandate that we are putting out today. And by the way, that includes consideration of modifications on some of our larger state parks-

Duration of modifications on some of our larger state parks where we’ve seen increased activity, where people simply aren’t able to practice social distancing, practice physical distancing. And those modifications are being made as well.

In order to support the efforts, and I referenced the efforts of Ventura County and LA County, and their desire, the local level, the determination at the local level to shut their beaches down. We, in concert with those decisions, thought it was appropriate for the state to do the same with the state beaches. But that’s the concentration of focus where local governments are working with the state, and they are driving that request. We will meet and match that request. But again, that is only beach closures in those two counties that have already made the determination they would be shutting down their local beaches. So that’s the modifications on our beach parking, and some of the beaches in the State of California that we’ll be advancing through this weekend. Again, holiday weekend. 4th of July weekend. And a weekend that has raised a lot of concern from our health officials.

And we want to, again, remind each and every one of you that if we want to be independent from COVID-19, we have to be much more vigilant in terms of maintaining our physical distancing from others, and be much more vigilant as it relates to the prospects of being in situations where we are transmitting COVID-19. And so we have worked with those counties, the 19 counties that are on our mandatory closure list, and we have made it clear privately. Now we’re making it more abundantly clear publicly that we believe that they should consider canceling some of their fireworks, shows and presentations. By the way, a number of cities have done just that. LA, I think San Francisco, even here at the Cal Expo in Northern California, in the Sacramento region have already made that determination.

So this shouldn’t come as a major surprise. Others have already been making an announcement in this place. But again, we’re looking at the totality of these 19 counties with increased spread, increased concern. And we are trying to build around a framework of being proactive this weekend, and get us through 4th of July weekend in a way where we’re not seeing a significant increase in spike in cases in a few weeks hence. Because we were putting ourselves and others in a difficult situation where the spread was more likely, not less likely.

Accordingly, I can’t say this enough. I’ve said it yesterday, the day before week or so ago. One of the areas where we’re seeing an increase in transmission that’s almost universally reflected in terms of the surveys and engagements with local health officials, is on family gatherings. The things that are so often, almost exclusively part of the tradition that is a 4th of July weekend. And that is people coming over that are not part of your immediate household. Not just extended family members, but friends, having barbecues, you’re having festivities, and sharing time together. Understandable impulse, particularly around Fourth of July weekend and everything it represents to our nation. And clearly that spirit, we appreciate and deeply respect. And I think patriotism, at least in a COVID-19 environment can be expressed a little bit differently with consideration of our independence, again, from COVID-19. That needs to come with conditions and considerations on wearing masks and making sure we’re physically distanced.

So I really cannot impress upon you more tendency to invite friends, neighbors over that you haven’t seen is there. Perhaps you’ve already done that. I hope you’ll reconsider those gatherings with people that you do not live with, that are not in your immediate household. So often is the case. And I’ve said this again, on many different occasions that, we come with good intentions. We may come with masks. We may be wearing those masks at the beginning of that time together. But invariably after few hours, after a drink or two, after eating some food, masks then are put aside, and families begin to mix that hadn’t seen each other in some time. And the prospect of increasing transmission presents itself. And so this is about keeping you safe, about keeping them safe, your friends, neighbors, and family members. And moreover, just making sure that we mitigate the spread, and don’t do harm and damage the lives of those that we love.

Again, as always, we’ve had a mandate for consistent period of time, as it relates to large crowd gatherings. Please avoid those crowds. We’re going to do our best to try to mitigate people congregating, and doing what we can to encourage good behavior. Not again, trying to be punitive. We recognize all the enforcement in this space is really just about people doing the right thing, which is the default of 99.9% of us. We want to do the right thing. We want to be responsible. At same time, we want to be respected. And I deeply respect people’s liberty, their desire to go back to the way things once were. But I cannot impress upon you more, our actions have an impact on other people. There’s a reason in this country we require seatbelts. There’s a reason in this country we require helmets when you are on a motorcycle or a scooter. And that is not only to protect you, but also protect others from behavior where you put yourself in a dangerous situation, you end up in the emergency room. And all of a sudden someone that had the opportunity to get that emergency care, can’t because that hospital’s now on diversion, and it can’t accommodate for an increase in flow.

That’s the same argument we extend to wearing face coverings, the mandate on wearing masks. A way of protecting you, but also respecting others in the process, and this community again, one we’re trying to build. And if there is any spirit again, of this 4th of July holiday weekend, it’s the spirit of those that signed that declaration. What is the first word that was consecrated in that document? It was life. And so please, let us protect our lives, and address the seriousness to which we must address this pandemic, and the recent increase in the transmissions as well as deaths related to this disease. And I say deaths because we lost 110 lives in the last 24 hours in the State of California.

Please, I say this respectfully, disabuse yourself that somehow people are no longer dying. I’ve been seeing some punditry in that space, that the mortality rates have somehow dropped significantly. And there is some statistical evidence to lay claim to that. But there’s also a real evidence that lay claims to a contrary narrative. And that’s the 110 lives that were torn asunder, torn apart, family members that won’t be celebrating 4th of July weekend with their loved ones this weekend, because one of their family members lost their lives to this disease. Please, do not take your guard down. Please, do not believe those that somehow want to manipulate the reality that is demonstrable in those lives lost, in those families that have been torn apart because of COVID-19. I don’t need to remind you of the thousands and thousands of others here in the State of California. Hundreds, thousands around the rest of the country, and around the rest of the world whose lives have been lost to this disease.

So we are sober about that. And I encourage you to be as well as you work through planning for your weekend festivities, and consider the three bullet points that we have here. Accordingly, I referenced the issue of enforcement. Enforcement is a difficult one. And I’m not naive about that. And I’m not by any stretch of the imagination Pollyannish about it. You have 40 million people in the State of California, and if 40 million people turn their back on these guidelines and common sense, that is not something we can enforce. No one is naive about that. And we can beat our heads against the wall and say, “I told you so,” but that’s not going to sit well. And I don’t want to do that with any of you. Accordingly, I’m going to ask you to, just advance kind of personal responsibility, personal behavior that I think all of us universally respect about this nation and its notion of freedom, is a notion about personal responsibility. And I think we can exercise that in the spirit of our founding fathers, and the spirit of this weekend, and that declaration signed by them.

But that said, we have, I think a responsibility at the same time, to go after people that are thumbing their nose, that are particularly being aggressive, reticent to do anything, to not only protect you as a customer, as an example of a bar, or restaurant, or any other facility, but aren’t even protecting their workers. And I think this is an incredibly important point. When we talk about compliance, this is not just talking about mask compliance. This is talking about compliance on health and safety in our meat packing facilities. One should not have to put their life at risk to go to work as an essential worker. And so that’s why we have Cal/OSHA on this list. We have the strike team of seven different agencies. This is just a handful we put on the slide. But we have seven different agencies as part of this strike team that we’re putting out in six regions in this state. And we’re cross-pollinating our enforcement in every sector. So again, Cal/OSHA is one of those sectors on health and safety. The Alcohol Beverage Control, ABC is another, BBC which is not up there, the Barbers and Cosmetology Board. And they’re also part of these teams that we’ll be putting out. Our department of consumer affairs business oversight.

And again, it’s more education. I’m not coming out with a fist. We want to come out with an open heart, recognizing the magnitude of some of these modifications in this dimmer switch, and what it means to small businessmen and women, what it means to communities, what it means to the economic vibrancy, and health of our state and in turn our nation. So again, we want to educate. We want to encourage. We want to give people time to come into compliance. That’s the spirit that we bring to our enforcement efforts. At the same time, I made this clear multiple previous occasions, we reserve the right, because we have stipulated and conditioned now that local counties do their share of enforcement, which is the lion’s share of enforcement. And if the counties decide not to do that, and that’s their choice, they have that right to choose. And as a consequence, we have a right as a state with the consent of the legislature, and a budget that I signed 24 hours ago, where there’s two and a half billion dollars contingent upon good behavior. So we want to reward good behavior. And we’re not here to be punitive.

Behavior, so we want to reward good behavior and we’re not here to be punitive as it relates to bad behavior but if there’s a redundancy of bad behavior, we want to stipulate a fiscal consideration at the county level and then at the business level we want to encourage good behavior and work to mitigate and address the concerns that may legitimately present themselves. There may be issues that are unique and distinctive for your business within your industry and particular part of the state that weren’t considered by some of the health officials either in your county or at the state and one should be open to argument, interested in the evidence that you can provide.

Again, that’s the spirit to which we engage but also we want in that spirit of cooperation to have two-way enforcement, two-way engagement, and again, when people just thumb their nose, turn their back and put your life at risk, put their workers’ lives at risk, that’s why we have rules, that’s why we have regulations, that’s why we have laws. Why have rules, why have regulations, why have laws if you’re not willing to enforce, one must be willing. So it’s targeted, it’s where there’s abuses, where there’s a redundancy of complaints and it’s done in the collaborative spirit and partnership with counties and cities and I’ll just say this, the counties have been incredibly cooperative so I want to thank county elected officials, county representatives for being overwhelmingly cooperative including Imperial County. Thank you for your leadership, to the local elected officials in Imperial County and to local health officers, been extraordinary as well as their CAO, their chief administrative office, thank you for your willingness to engage, your support of our collective effort and know that that comes with support always from the state of California in complements, and again I highlight their example because it’s deserving and that’s represented again, vast majority of parts of the state of California.

In areas where it’s not, we also have a little bit more that we’ll be doing in addition to what you see on the slide and that is we have begun to aggregate in a more systemic way some of that enforcement here at the Office of Emergency Services. I’m pleased that we have the Director of the Office of Emergency Service, Mark Ghilarducci, who is here as well, and he’ll talk a little bit more briefly but talk a little bit more about some of the stepped up efforts we’re doing in terms of our collaborative approach to enforcement relating to the rules and regulations of this state. Mr. Director?

Mark Ghilarducci: (26:41)
Thank you Governor. So just to reiterate and build on the government’s points regarding enforcement. The primary effort moving forward is really coordinating these strike teams at the State Operations Center but building on a partnership of education and information with our local public health departments, with our local business community. Really that’s what we want to focus on initially. Of course as we see non-compliance opportunities and events that are taking place, we will have these agencies and departments that the governor mentioned leverage their regulatory authorities and their enforcement authorities to enforce the public health orders that are in place throughout the state. This is going to be important in support of our local public health orders as well as the overall state strategy.

Mark Ghilarducci: (27:44)
Again, this is an effort of safety and security, of one of public health, to ensure that we are continuing to flatten the curve, continuing to keep our community safe. These teams will be deployed throughout the various regions of the state. We’ve identified the six different regions of the state, focusing initially on the 19 counties that the governor had mentioned that’s on the list and they’ll really focus on those non-compliance issues and then we’ll look at things like licensing or business opportunities, how business operations are going, in the case that we need to enforce through citation or through other kinds of action, those entities will be able to do that. This will begin today and we’ll be moving forward in the coming weeks throughout the state. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Director. So that’s again, we’re trying to be as cooperative as we possibly can, working with local law enforcement first, working with their health officials, looking at areas in the state where we’re seeing particular problems and spikes and some abuse as it relates to these rules and regulations being flaunted or not being supported in terms of enforcement at the local level. The state will organize itself again from a code and licensing perspective as well as a regulatory and fiscal perspective to engage with an education first mindset and then a mindset of targeted enforcement to the extent it is necessary in order to get people into compliance and get people back into a frame of mind that recognizes the magnitude of this moment.

Let’s talk about the magnitude of this moment. Yesterday, we recorded 5,898 new cases of COVID-19, 5,898 cases of COVID-19 on June 30. These are yesterday’s numbers. Positivity rate, again this is the percentage of people tested, percentage that were tested positive for COVID-19. Positivity rate, first 14 days that we began putting this information together was as high as 40.8%. You’ll see in the blue bars that are in this chart our testing was as low as just a few hundred, a few thousand tests a day. You’re seeing substantial increase in testing. In fact, we had over 105,000 tests that we reported yesterday. About 87,000 tests that we are reporting today. We are sort of meeting our metrics, getting north of 100,000 on multiple days now and certainly well past our stretch goal of 60,000 to 80,000 tests on an average day. We still have to do more tests and so I’m encouraged by the increased number of tests but we have more to do in this space.

Accordingly, we have more to do to mitigate the spread of this transmission, particularly community spread which is reflected in the positivity rate that’s now at 6% over a 14 day period. 6% over the last 14 day period. Let me highlight that a little bit more by focusing on this slide that shows just 14 days ago it was 4.6%. It’s now jumped to 6%. That’s a very high increase and may not seem like much to some, but every decimal point is profoundly impactful and accordingly, I should note there is a decimal point missing from that 6% if you consider the seven day positivity rate. This is the 14 day that we’ve reflected from the beginning. I want to be consistent in terms of our presentation, but the 6%, again being a 14 day period, masks the 6.4% which is reflected just in the seven day trend. So last week we’re seeing that number grow even higher still. Not surprisingly again and none of this should surprise any of us. As we reopen our economy, as more people mix, we’re going to see an increase in spread.

This was anticipated the day we advanced our efforts to curb the spread of this virus, which bought us time to build capacity and build a framework where we can meet the needs of those that seek medical care and an environment where invariably the numbers would start increasing, particularly in a state that mitigated the spike in the curve. When you have a spike, naturally you have only one place to go, and that’s down. California, unlike some others, we were successful in bending that curve. We will be successful again in bending this new curve, but know that the success bought us time to build capacity and to build our ability to respond to those in crisis, those in the … Again, positivity rate goes up, community spread begins to go up, people are mixing, and we start to see now that reflected in our hospitalization rates and not surprisingly you’ll see this number up to 5,196 individuals, that were hospitalized for COVID-19. That represents a 51% increase from where we were just two weeks ago.

If you’ve been following these presentations, it was in the forties, now just north of 50%, 51%. Again, based on what I just expressed and explained, our hospital capacity is substantially greater than that number. In fact, that 5,196 represents 7% or so of all the hospital beds in the state of California. Not all the hospital beds are being used, you’ll see that reflected in that number of 44,336, so we have the capacity and we have plans, we have protocols, onsite, offsite, within the hospital system, the healthcare delivery system and within our alternative care system if we see a significant spike and a significant surge but again daily, I provide you this information so that you can see that we’re monitoring it and I want to give you the assurance that we have built in capacity in the system and that’s why we again wanted to spend the last few months doing more so we can do better and be more responsive if indeed we saw a surge in the first wave or the expectation of entering the second wave in the fall of this pandemic.

ICU admissions, we start with positive cases, positivity rates. You start seeing hospitalizations grow. Invariably you’ll start seeing ICU admissions increasing. This represents a 47% increase from where we were just two weeks ago, 1,617 individuals in the ICUs that are COVID positive. Total ICU capacity, we have 10,906 beds, 1,617 represent roughly 15% of the total population, but remember, people are utilizing ICU beds for other purposes and so within that capacity, we’re also monitoring this growth and obviously expressed some concern in the ICU population growth, in the aggregate that has led to the decision we are making today around the dimmer switch and the modifications in these 19 counties. ICU critical care capacity is foundational and that gets back to the whole issue of ventilators. As you know we were able to send ventilators to New York and some other states in the midst of their spike. We don’t want to see states have to do that for us, that’s why we are moving forward

… states have to do that for us. That’s why we are moving forward at this moment in terms of our mitigation and suppression strategies and making the announcements we’re making today. We currently have over 11,000. You’ll see in this chart 11,430 ventilators that are available within our system currently.

Look, I can’t say it enough, so I’ll say it yet again. Please wear a face covering. Wear a mask. We have now an unprecedented number of masks that have come into the state. We made a bold move to procure hundreds of millions of masks. That bold move has paid off and we’re very proud of the contract. It’s July 1st. We made commitments on that contract. It was a two-month commitment, that first phase commitment in terms of procurement. We have now received hundreds of millions of those mass as we had hoped, and we are very proud of that for no other reason than now we are in a mindset with massive abundance, not scarcity, where we’re providing face coverings to sectors of our economy that we otherwise could not have afforded, including I’ve mentioned this to other states, particularly Arizona where we’re honored to be able to send 17 million masks to help support their efforts.

That’s the spirit of our times and that’s the spirit to which again, I implore you to wear your own face covering not just this week in the holiday festivities, but every day. It’s a mandate in the state of California. It will be enforced by others, is much more than it will be by law enforcement. That’s just obvious. That’s common sense, but just because someone’s not going to tap you and write a citation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the right thing. We know better. We were taught better. That’s what our grandparents and parents taught us.

Just to respect others even if we’re not going to respect ourselves. And again, wearing a face covering is a sign of toughness. It’s a sign of resolve. It’s a sign of someone who gives a damn. It’s a sign of someone who wants to solve a problem, take responsibility. I think that’s a beautiful thing.

And I’ll tell ya, the spirit of our founding fathers and the spirit of the American spirit is one of taking responsibility, taking to account and meeting a moment and having the fortitude, the character, the conviction, the confidence to put a face covering on to mitigate not only the likelihood you’re going to get sick, but to mitigate the likelihood you could spread this virus to someone else. And it also sends a message, a powerful message. It shows that you’re committed not just interested to the health of your community, that you’re a leader. And so again, to all the leaders out there wearing face coverings, thank you for your example. Thank you for the values. Thank you for the spirit that you bring to this moment, and we continue to encourage others that haven’t had that opportunity to avail themselves and protect them and others in that process accordingly.

Look, if you are going to be in an environment or you have to go to the grocery store or some other place where you’re going to be around other people, do your best to not mix with strangers, people outside of your immediate household, and practice that physical distancing, and as always, talk about grandma. My gosh. We all were taught at a very young age, some were more successful than others, to wash your hands. And again, that’s one of the most foundational things we can do to mitigate the spread of this virus and that’s why we always end these presentations with those three fundamental reminders.

And course, as always, I can’t say this enough as well. If you’re 65 or over or you have pre-existing conditions, you have underlying conditions, there’s never been a more vulnerable time for you in this pandemic. There’s never been a time where we’re more concerned about you than at this moment in this pandemic with the spread of this virus, spread we never saw a few months ago. So if you are willing to do what you needed to do to protect yourself a few months ago, please, please, please do the same today. Otherwise, you’re just running the 90 yard dash. We have a responsibility to you and we want to be there for you.

And that’s that Great Plates idea. If you’re alone and you’re not eligible for other programs and we’re mandating you stay at home, but you don’t have loved ones to prepare meals for you, we have a great program called Great Plates and we encourage you or your loved ones if you don’t have access to the tools of technology, to ask someone that is caring for you to go to COVID-19.ca.gov, COVID-19.ca.gov and learn about our Great Plates program where you get three meals a day delivered and with choice, with quality, and health considerations.

So again, if we’re mandating something, we want to be there and be as supportive as we can to those that are impacted by some of those mandates. And we want to just remind all of you the vulnerability, if you’re in that case category of a pre-existing condition, the vulnerability of being out and about, particular through this holiday weekend. So look, as I said, and I’ll repeat this one final time before we open it up to questions, we were able to bend the curve in the state of California. We’re going to bend this curve again. The decisions we’re making here today, we do so soberly, but thoughtfully and deliberatively with an idea on mitigating the spread of this virus. We’re focusing and targeting on local parts of this state where we’re seeing an increase in community spread and we’re seeing an increase in the positivity.

Not every part of the state is impacted equally. And as a consequence, we are not targeting at a statewide level these rules and regulations. We’re focusing in on areas of concern. We had deep reverence and respect for local health officers and the hard work that they’re doing and local elected officials of all political stripes and their determination of what is working in their communities. We encourage them to continue to enforce these rules and regulations, we provide technical assistance when they need the support of the state, and we continue to hold out an expectation of ongoing cooperation and ongoing engagement. We’ve had it in the past with few exceptions, just a few, and we anticipate we’ll continue to have that spirit of collaboration and cooperation moving forward.

So in that spirit of collaboration and cooperation, let me take any questions you may have today.

Speaker 1: (42:54)
Alex Michaelson, FOX 11. David Baker, Bloomberg News.

We lost everybody. I can fill it, but let me as we figure out the technical difficulties before I lose you, and forgive us to the two individuals that we just called for, let me also just because this is July 1st, I was remiss. It’s an opportunity to remind you about the work we’re doing on contact tracing in the state. Foundational, so critical, important to the work again that’s being done at the local level to make sure that people that have contracted COVID-19 or have been proximate to those that have contacted it, that we have a robust contact tracing system.

As you may recall, now over a month ago, we announced a partnership with UCSF and UCLA to train a cohort, a first phase cohort of 10,000 tracers. Our goal was to get this phase one cohort trained by July 1st. I’m very proud that currently we have 10,170 people that will finish their training this week, so within a day or two of that stated goal, I want to just thank the incredible partnership that we were able to form with UCSF and UCLA, two of the finest universities in the world, part of the UC System for their technical support and assistance and guiding this new cohort of contact tracers. California now has over 10,000 that will have been trained by the end of this calendar week and be put to work in real time.

About half our county officials and half our state officials, again, building on a bottom up contact tracing approach. Remember, contact tracing is not novel. It preexisted, predated COVID-19. We’ve been doing contact tracing and the state and this nation for many, many years going back to HIV and AIDS and the beginning of the crisis there and continuing issues around STD spread and measles, TB and the like. Some counties have more robust tracing cores, some a little less so, so we are building off that existing infrastructure bottom up, and now with this new cohort trained, we’ll be able to do a lot more over the course of the next days, weeks, and months.

With that, apparently we’ve done more to fix our technical difficulties. We’ll take the questions.

Speaker 1: (45:38)
David Baker, Bloomberg News.

David? Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. Look, I want to just thank everybody. I won’t belabor. I’m taking this privilege of your time and I take it very, very seriously. I will be as responsive as I can to all the press inquiries that come offline and we’ll get back to you. We have our press corps here as well and I’ll offer that same personally. We’ll be back for more updates, but let us again watch each other’s backs this weekend as we move in to a holiday weekend where more and more people are mixing, more and more people are coming in contact with one another, strangers, people outside the households. Wear your face coverings. Wear those masks. Practice physical distancing. Let’s do our best to meet this moment as we met the moment many months ago and bent the curve the first time. Let’s do it again this time. Take care, everybody, and look forward to catching up with you hopefully as soon as tomorrow. Take care.

California Governor Gavin Newsom July 1 Press Conference Transcript

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