SACRAMENTO, Calif. — While California as a whole is seeing a small decline in the cases of coronavirus and hospitalization rates, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Central Valley remains a concern.
Last week Newsom declared the Central Valley a COVID-19 hotspot, with hospitalizations and ICU admissions surging in eight of the local counties. On Monday, the governor said five out of the eight Department of Defense medical teams are deployed now in the Central Valley.
The governor said the protocols followed in Imperial County during its surge in June will now be applied to the Central Valley. The plan will bring some patients into neighboring communities to relieve local hospital capacity and bring protective supplies to essential businesses.
“If you ask me today what our biggest area of concern is in a state as large as our it is indeed the Central Valley,” Gov. Newsom said.
Statewide COVID-19 cases over a seven-day period were 7,764, down 21.2% compared to last week. Hospitalizations decreased by 10% over a 14-day period while ICU admissions decreased by 5%.
California's positivity rate was 7% on Monday. Newsom said that while the state's daily average number of tests was up, the number of people who tested positive for the virus was down relatively.
"Encouraging signs, but one week does not make the kind of trend that gives us confidence to generate headlines."
Newsom said 38 counties are now on the State Monitoring List.
