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“It’s just utter nonsense,” the Democrat said at a press conference Monday when asked if the Republican-led recall launched last year had any bearing on the state’s decision to end the orders, which had been in place since early December. “Let’s just do away with this basic, fundamental nonsense.”
The lifting of regional orders means alfresco dining can resume and barbers and barbershops are allowed to reopen with very limited indoor capacity – although many other indoor business activities are still limited as the State will revert to its level color-coded system based on county threat assessment. The vast majority of counties in California are still in the most restrictive purple level, and counties are allowed to impose more stringent guidelines if they choose to do so.
“Today we can claim to see a real light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the number of cases,” Newsom said on Monday in a crisis update. He noted that the 14-day positivity rate in California has now fallen to 9.4%
“We are not out of the woods. We are seeing a flattening of the curve,” he said. “Everything that should go up is up. Everything that should be down is down. Case rate, positivity rate, hospitalizations, intensive care – the tests are starting to go up, as are the vaccination rates in this state – but we are not out of the woods. ”
The effort to recall Newsom began last year, fueled by anger over the restrictions he had put in place to control the virus, but it has gained momentum as prominent Republicans in the state looked at both organizational and fundraising efforts.
Promoters of the recall are due to collect 1.5 million signatures, which are due on March 17. The leaders of the recall say they have collected more than a million signatures. The most recent report from the California Secretary of State’s office indicated that 723,783 signatures had been submitted and 410,087 had been verified as of January 6.
Supporters of the recall, who claim on their website that Newsom “continues to destroy the lives and businesses of hardworking Californians,” questioned his motives for lifting stay-at-home orders on Monday as cases remain high and that the new variants of the virus.
“The recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom has reached critical mass and continues to gain momentum,” said Orrin Heatlie, who initiated the recall effort. “So he is now taking steps to loosen the screws of those held captive to maintain the hold he still holds on the state.”
California officials said they were able to lift the regional stay-at-home order from early December for the remaining areas that were under lockdown – populated areas like southern California, the region of the bay and valley of San Joaquin – because the four – weekly projections finally show that the capacity of intensive care units will be above 15%.
In the deadly California outbreak, the state added some 4,100 healthcare workers to the ranks to handle the influx of patients, but Newsom stressed on Monday that the state was still having a tough time in terms of numbers. cases and deaths. The state has so far confirmed 3.1 million cases and more than 37,000 deaths. But Newsom touted the fact that California has administered more than 40 million Covid-19 tests since the start of the pandemic.
As in many other states across the country, demand for Covid-19 vaccines far exceeds supply. At a meeting of the Vaccine Advisor group last week, state epidemiologist Erica Pan said that at the current rate California is receiving doses, the state may be able to vaccinate the majority of residents aged 65 and over who are currently eligible for the vaccine. .
Responding to growing frustration among Californians who were unable to make vaccination appointments, Newsom noted that California had tripled the pace of vaccinations between January 4 and January 15. He also said the state would approach vaccinations the same way an airline would board a plane. , calling certain priority groups like first class and business class first, but starting to bring the rest of the passengers on board without waiting for those priority groups to complete the boarding process.
The state is currently vaccinating healthcare workers and people aged 65 and over, while “prioritizing” agricultural workers, emergency workers and teachers, depending on the vaccine supply. in a given area – but the very ease of making an appointment to get the vaccine for these priority groups varied tremendously with each locality. State officials said on Monday there would be “a single statewide standard and movement across the levels” to explain the confusion that has set in for several weeks.
State officials have also started a pilot program in San Diego and Los Angeles counties for a system called My Turn that will alert Californians when they are eligible and allow them to make appointments. Providers will be able to share data with the state on the number of vaccines received and administered through the same system, with the aim of reducing the backlog in data reporting. The state has worked with companies like Salesforce, Skedulo, and Accenture to develop the system, which will launch statewide in a few weeks.
Newsom also said that doses that have been administered to providers who have not yet used at least 65% of their available supply over a week will be reallocated if the provider does not submit a plan to use the remaining vaccines to inoculate them. priority populations within four days of being notified by the state.
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