Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered an update on California's vaccination efforts from a Long Beach vaccination site. Read highlights below or watch the full video above.
1.4 MILLION VACCINE DOSES THIS WEEK, 1.5 MILLION NEXT WEEK
Following introductory remarks by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Newsom said that Long Beach has been a leader in vaccinations.
The state has approached nearly 7 and a half million people who've received at least one vaccine dose, Newsom said. There has been an average of nearly 200,000 doses administered each day, with approximately 1.4 million administered over the past week.
California expects to receive approximately 1.4 million doses of vaccine this week and 1.5 million the following week. It received about 1.3 million this past week.
However, the supply of vaccine available is still behind demand and capacity. Newsom noted that, at the Long Beach testing site he was at, they were only running at about a third of capacity due to that lack of availability. He said that this is a manufacturing issue, with the drug companies unable to produce enough of the vaccine to match the capacity of vaccination centers.
REOPENING SCHOOLS AND VACCINATING TEACHERS
Newsom said that there was nothing more important to supporting working women, particularly single working mothers, than safely reopening schools. Newsom praised Mayor Garcia for vaccinating teachers at a level greater than anywhere else, which has allowed Long Beach to set a date for reopening schools. He encouraged other areas to replicate what Long Beach has been doing.
Newsom said that he was in Long Beach to reinforce the example set by Long Beach's leadership when it comes to reopening schools. He stressed the importance of that particularly for children with special needs, foster children, homeless children, and diverse communities where children are not receiving the same level of education via Zoom than they would be if schools were open for in-person instruction.
Newsom said that he hopes what Long Beach has done is replicated across Los Angeles County and around the state. He introduced Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn as well. She joined Newsom in stressing the importance of vaccinating teachers. She also said that she'd like to work with Gov. Newsom to get a bigger allotment of doses in Long Beach since they've done such a good job getting those doses out and administered.
COVID-19 NUMBERS UPDATE
The state's coronavirus positivity rate is now at 3.0%, down from 8.9% 30 days ago. A month ago today, the state reported its highest one-day COVID-19 death toll: 764. There were 233 deaths in California's most recent one-day reporting period. Newsom expressed his condolences for Garcia losing both of his parents to COVID-19 during this pandemic.
There were 23,000 cases reported a month ago, while today there were less than 4,700 new cases reported. Hospitalizations and ICU admissions are down 41% and 39% respectively.
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