California governor admits fault in lack of testing for state

SACRAMENTO — On Mar. 4, California Governor Gavin Newsom addressed the state promising a comprehensive approach to ramp up testing and data collection around the COVID-19 pandemic within the state.

Not mincing words, Newsom took full responsibility for the shortfall of testing in the state. “I owe that. You deserve better and more,” Newsom said.

“It’s a new day as far as testing,” Newsom said, promising to increase testing five-fold.
In his address, Newsom said that the state has started collaborating with private industries such as Blue Shield and educational institutions like Stafford University.

The governor said that the state is moving beyond the standard swab testing and expanding into different testing procedures in an effort to gather more data as a “comprehensive approach on data collection,” including rapid point care tests that can take five to 15 minutes to produce results.

“We should have done better,” Newsom said concerning the amount of testing being performed, “and we’re going to do better.”

According to Newsom, California distributed 41.2 million masks to date. Twenty-three hundred people are hospitalized with 1,008 people in ICU in the state. In addition, the state performed 1,226 tests on Friday, demonstrating a 12.4 percent increase from the previous day.

Newsom also warned against cabin fever and that people continue to practice social distancing, saying that “we’re not out of the woods.”

“We’re seeing double-digit increases,” Newsom said. “You do the math on that. This is real. This is serious.”