Black Lives Matter protesters used an alarm and a loudspeaker to disrupt California Governor Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus press conference on Tuesday.
The chaos was appropriated when Newsom revealed the grim state of the pandemic in California. Consequently, the governor said the state would become “tougher” in its approach. “We will make a more formal and detailed announcement on the application tomorrow,” he promised.
“We will review health orders regarding indoor and outdoor activities on the fourth of July,” Newsom said. “More generally, beyond the Fourth of July.”
Referring to family gatherings, particularly over the holiday weekend, Newsom said: “We are going to have to do more about it … be a little more aggressive about the guidelines.”
Related story
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti bans Fourth of July fireworks displays, bans meetings with people he doesn’t live with and puts
“They are family gatherings,” Newsom said, “where people let their guard down.” The governor was more concerned with people taking off their masks and giving kisses hugs and kisses. “Then suddenly you see a spread,” he said.
Watch Governor Newsom’s press conference, which began by addressing homelessness, below.
When asked about applying the mask order, the governor said, “We will do more to focus on law enforcement in this state. Mainly local enforcement. We have tied $ 2.5 billion into our state budget on [local officials] applying the spirit and the letter of the law. If local officials are unwilling and derogatory, we will condition those funds on compliance. ”
Newsom said the state’s levers for compliance would include “regulatory oversight, code oversight. OSHA is now very active in this space. Alcoholic drinks [Control] is active in this space. “
Trying to sound an optimistic note towards the end of his appearance, Newsom said: “We turned the curve in the state of California once. We will double the curve again. We are going to crush this pandemic. But we will have to be tougher. “
That’s an optimistic stance given that the state saw an almost record number of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases, 6,367, in the past 24 hours. That’s a 2.9 percent jump over Monday’s number. It comes less than a week after the state set a record with 7,149 new infections last Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the state reported that California now has 222,917 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 5,980 deaths. The number of COVID-related deaths increased by 77, that’s 0.7 percent. The total number of COVID-19 diagnostic test results in California totaled 4,167,139, an increase of 105,447 tests. That’s over 85,000 tests the day before, but pretty much the same as Monday’s daily number. The positive result rate in the last 14 days is 5.6 percent. California hospitalizations for COVID-19 increased by 301 patients, a 6.3 percent jump. Thirty percent of all ICU beds in the state were occupied by patients with coronavirus.
“In [sic] Particular concern is the number of hospitalizations and the number of beds in the ICU, “Newsom said
The number of COVID patients in ICU beds increased 4.3 percent overnight and saw a 37 percent increase over a two-week period.
The governor said the positivity rate for the new tests was 4.4 percent two weeks ago. Now, in the last 7 days, it’s 5.9 percent.
Newsom said Monday it would likely use the “dimmer switch” to toggle reopening measures in the hardest hit counties. He said there were seven counties, including Los Angeles, that would likely have to “reinstate community measures.”
Testifying before Congress on Tuesday, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said: “We now have more than 40,000 new cases per day. I wouldn’t be surprised if we increase to 100,000 a day if this doesn’t change. And so I am very concerned. “
After reducing coronavirus reopening measures twice in three days, Newsom said Monday that the state’s positivity rate rose, in seven days, from 4.4 percent to 5.5 percent, even as the state he increased his tests to more than 100,000 per day. Newsom revealed that, in the past seven days, positivity looks even worse at 5.9 percent.
On Friday, Newsom caused Imperial County to delay lifting the order to stay home. He hinted Monday that the move could be in the future for more counties in the state.
Newsom ordered seven California counties to close bars and nightclubs on Sunday. Those counties include Los Angeles, Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Tulare, Kings, Ventura, and Imperial. He said counties have been on a watch list for 3-13 days due to the increase in COVID numbers. Within 14 days, the governor said the state will apply corrective measures.
On Monday, Newsom added Solano, Merced, Orange and Glenn counties to that watch list. Counties of concern to state officials now represent 72 percent of the state’s population, he said.
The cumulative positivity rate for tests in Los Angeles County increased from 8 percent to 9 percent as of Monday, while the 7-day average of the daily positivity rate increased to 8.8%. That is well outside a key state guideline for reopening, which requires the 7-day average of the daily positivity rate to be less than 8 percent.
Also Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Health closed the beaches over the weekend of July 4. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti later announced a ban on fireworks and banned gatherings of people who do not live in the square home.
New York state, once the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, on Tuesday restricted travel from several states, including California. As numbers increase in other states, the COVID-19 outbreak in New York is dramatically shrinking.
With approximately 2.6 million reported infections in the United States, at least 124,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
