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California Needs 1 Billion Gloves For Health Care Workers, Will Close State Parking Lots
California Gov. Gavin Newsom provided an update on the state's response to COVID-19. Watch the live video above.
Here are some of the key takeaways from his briefing:
- $100 million in emergency grants are now being distributed out to cities and counties in California to secure hotels for housing the homeless.
- California currently has 416 hospitals, and just shy of 75,000 licensed beds. We need to add an additional 50,000 beds. Here is the plan for that so far:
- The hospital system alone will provide 30,000 of those beds
- The state has identified another 3,000 beds. We need another 17,000.
- The state is considering getting fourth-year medical students working in hospitals, and getting retirees back into the workforce.
- California needs to procure 1 billion gloves, 595 million masks and 2 million shields for health care workers, to carry them through the next three months.
- Six California companies want to repurpose their facilities to manufacture gowns. Some are considering 3D printing masks.
- 1,000 ventilators provided by Elon Musk have arrived in L.A.
- The state is shutting down all state parking lots, including nine in L.A.
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS:
- Your No-Panic Guide To Coronavirus In LA So Far
- Your No-Panic Guide: Sanitizer, Toilet Paper, Medicine — When Will Everything Be Back In Stock?
- Here's Your Quick, To The Point, Coronavirus Prep List
- Have A Question? We Will Answer It
SOME STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT COVID-19
We're all living through this extraordinary and frightening pandemic. The vast majority of our newsroom has been working from home (here's some advice on that) since March 11 to bring you calm, helpful reporting. We are answering your questions and taking more.
We're here to help. And if you can help support that effort financially, we'd be grateful.
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