“It’s totally absurd,” said the Democrat during a news conference on Monday, when asked whether the Republican-led recall launched last year had an influence on the state’s decision to end orders, which have been in place since the beginning of December. “We will simply dispense with this fundamental absurdity.”
The survey of regional orders means that outdoor meals can be resumed, and hairdressers and hairdressers can reopen with very limited internal capacity – although many other internal commercial activities are still restricted, as the state reverts to its color-coded layer- based system to assess the threat by county. The vast majority of California counties are still within the most restrictive purple belt and counties are allowed to impose stricter guidelines if they so decide.
“Today we can say that we saw some real light at the end of the tunnel with respect to the case numbers,” Newsom said on Monday during an update on the crisis. He noted that the 14-day positivity rate in California dropped to 9.4%
“We are not out of danger. We are seeing a flattening of the curve,” he said. “Everything that should be up is up. Everything that should be down is down. Rates of cases, rates of positivity, hospitalizations, ICUs – tests are rising again, as well as vaccination rates in this state – but we have not left the forest. ”
The effort to revoke Newsom began last year, fueled by anger over the restrictions he put in place to control the virus, but gained momentum when state Republicans stood out in their efforts to organize and raise funds.
Proponents of the recall are expected to collect 1.5 million signatures, which are due on March 17. Recall leaders claim to have collected more than one million signatures. The most recent report from the California Secretary of State’s office said 723,783 signatures had been sent and 410,087 had been verified by January 6.
Defenders of the recall, who argue on their website that Newsom “continues to destroy the lives and businesses of Californian workers”, questioned their motives on Monday to suspend requests to stay at home when cases are still high and there is growing concern about new variants of the virus.
“The recall effort against Governor Gavin Newsom has reached critical mass and continues to gain momentum,” said Orrin Heatlie, who launched the recall effort. “So he is now taking steps to loosen the screws of those held in captivity to maintain the control he still maintains over the state.”
California officials said they were able to suspend the regional order to stay home from early December for the remaining regions that were under blockade – populated areas like southern California, the bay area and the San Joaquin valley – because the four weekly projections finally show that the capacity of the intensive care unit will be above 15%.
During California’s death toll, the state added about 4,100 health workers to the ranks to handle the flow of patients, but Newsom emphasized on Monday that the state is still in a challenging period in terms of the number of cases and deaths . The state has confirmed 3.1 million cases so far and more than 37,000 deaths. But Newsom praised the fact that California has administered more than 40 million Covid-19 tests since the pandemic began.
As in many other states in the country, demand for Covid-19 vaccines is far exceeding supply. During a vaccine advisory panel meeting last week, state epidemiologist Erica Pan said that at the current rate California is receiving doses, it may be June before the state is able to vaccinate most residents aged 65 and over and currently eligible for the vaccine.
Addressing growing frustration among Californians who failed to schedule vaccination appointments, Newsom noted that California tripled the rate of vaccines between January 4 and 15. He also clarified that the state will approach vaccines in the same way that an airline would board a plane, calling certain priority groups such as first class and business class first, but beginning to drive the rest of the passengers on board without waiting for those groups of passengers to board. high priority to complete the boarding process.
Currently, the state is vaccinating health professionals and people over 65 years of age, in addition to “prioritizing” peasants, rescuers and teachers, depending on the vaccine stock in a given area – but with the ease of even making an appointment to get the vaccine for these priority groups have varied enormously depending on each location. State officials said on Monday that there will be “a single state pattern and movement through the layers” to explain the confusion that has built up over several weeks.
State officials have also started a pilot program in San Diego and Los Angeles counties for a system called My Turn, which will alert Californians when they are eligible and allow them to schedule appointments. Providers will be able to share data with the state on the number of vaccines received and administered through the same system, in an effort to reduce the delay in reporting data. The state has worked with companies like Salesforce, Skedulo and Accenture to develop the system, which will be launched across the state within a few weeks.
Newsom also said that doses that were given to providers that have not yet used at least 65% of their available supply over the course of a week will be relocated if the provider does not send a plan to use the remaining vaccines to inoculate priority populations within four days. after being notified by the state.