California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that he activated the California National Guard in support of local communities. This is due to the swell in Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant.
The state’s National Guard plan will deploy over 200 Cal Guard members across 50 Optum Serve sites around California, providing interim clinical staff while permanent staff are hired, adding capacity for walk-ins, assisting with crowd control and back-filling for staff absences – all in an effort to conduct more tests. Additional members of the Guard will be deployed next week in similar capacities, according to the governor’s office.
Los Angeles is facing a shortage in rapid tests and a lack of appointments for more reliable PCR tests. With LAUSD and other schools resuming next week, it is a smart move to flood the area in the hope of catching any outbreaks early.
The state has administered the most tests ever. However, the 7-day test positive rate continues to rise. More testing generally results in a decline in test positivity. A decrease in positivity and testing indicates that infection is not fully contained.
The state’s 7-day average test positivity rate is up 3.6% in the past week to an all time high of 21.7% today. That’s 60-plus percent higher than the peak of last winter’s surge. This means that one in five state residents has been tested positive. This also happens on the same day that 528,039 people were tested in the state.
“California has led the country’s fight against Covid-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save tens of thousands of lives,”Newsom. “We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity.”
This action will be in addition to the existing 6,000 test sites across the state, and the demand-based expansions of hours at state-operated locations.
Omicron continues its rapid spread, accounting for at most 80% of Covid cases within the region.
California isn’t the only state that has called up its Guard this year to combat Covid. The same has been done by Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey and Maryland. However, most of these deployments were made to improve hospital capacity. California calls in the cavalry BeforeThe state’s medical infrastructure has been overwhelmed. According to the state’s most recent ensemble forecast, however, it may need help in its hospitals come February, as Covid-related admissions there are expected to surpass the peak of last winter’s onslaught.
Newsom has recently taken a variety of measures to counter the increase in cases. They include vaccine and masking requirements that all health care workers be fully vaccinated. Newsom announced plans to add Covid-19 to the list. When fully approved, schools will be able to receive the vaccine.