Gavin Gavin Newsom delivered an update on California’s response to wildfires, the West Coast heat wave, and coronavirus. You can read highlights below or watch the full press conference above.
HEAT AND POWER FOOD
Extreme heat has put pressure on the state’s energy supply, said Newsom, who needs statewide “de-energy” on Friday and Saturday, but since then there have been no mandatory power outages.
Newsom notes that the state shifted energy consumption, energy users and utilities temporarily used backup resources, with large consumers working to reduce usage and use more hydropower. He thanks Californians for reducing their power use during the high demand hours from 3pm to 10pm
Hours with high demand are on Wednesday between 2 and 9 p.m.
The state expects to use 47,284 megawatts of electricity this evening, and Newsom said today is the last day that officials expect to reduce the use of power. The expected usage drops to about 45,000 megawatts tomorrow and 43,000 on Friday. On a typical summer day, the state uses about 38,000 megawatts of power.
Newsom said the investigation into why the state was not ready for it began with such high energy consumption.
He asked people in California to do the following:
- Cool houses and offices at night and in the early morning
- Set air conditioning to 78 degrees between 2pm and 9pm
- Forget about using important appliances like the dishwasher and washing machines during peak hours if possible
- Turn off all unnecessary lights
MAJOR FIRES BURNING THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA
Newsom said there had been 10,849 lightning strikes in the last 72 hours as part of the current weather system, and it helped spark fires in the state. The fire season is more active than it was at this point last year – 6,754 fires were tackled as of yesterday, as opposed to 4,007 last August.
The state currently fights 367 known fires statewide, including 23 major fires in fire complexes (where multiple bubbles are concentrated in one geographic area).
Here is the status of some of those fires:
- Ranch Fire: 19% contained
- Lake Fire: 38% fat
- Apple Fire: 95% fat
- Loyalton Fire: 35% fat
- Holser Fire: 30% fat
Now that some progress has been made in fighting fires in Southern California, some resources are being pulled and diverted to deal with fires in Northern California, where most of the lightning strikes have occurred. Newsom notes that fires in the contained range of 30-40% and without significantly changing weather conditions give firefighters the confidence that they are under control.
Some Northern California Inclusion Numbers:
- CZU August Lightning Complex: 0% fat
- LNU Lightning Complex: 0% fat
- Carmel Fire: 0% fat
- Jones Fire: 5% fat
Newsom notes that the state is calling on its partners in the Western US for additional resources.
NEW CORONAVIRUS REPAIR STRATEGIES COMING NEXT WEEK
Government officials are working on new criteria for redevelopment of certain economic sectors. Newsom said the state has plans to monitor various sectors to see how its resumption affects COVID-19 numbers. Details will be made public next week.
LAST CORONAVIRUS LANGUAGES
Statewide were the 6,154 new COVID-19 cases in the last reporting period. De positivity rate is 6.6% in the past two weeks, and 6.3% for the past week. To date, 10.1 million people in California have been tested.
Hospitalizations in California have decreased 17% in the past two weeks – they went up a bit on Monday, then down 0.1% yesterday. COVID-19 patients makeup 7% of hospitals in the state.
COVID-19 ICU permits have been down 13% over the last two weeks. ICU talitten fell 1% yesterday. They represent 19% of the state’s ICU licenses.
There are now 40 counties on the state COVID-19 monitoring list. Since Monday, San Diego and Placer counties have been dropped from the state’s monitoring list. It is expected that, as early as Thursday, San Francisco County will also drop from the list.
Officials are preparing for what is expected to be a second wave of COVID-19 this fall, Newsom said. He stressed that current orders for residence are not permanent at home, and that counties that fall off the monitoring list will return to a truly more normal life.
Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate now.
