LOS ANGELES (KNX) — In addition to requiring COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for all healthcare workers, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will expand access to testing to ensure all Californians have a fighting chance against the quick-spreading Omicron variant. In a press conference Wednesday, Newsom said he considers boosters to be part of “full vaccination.”
“The full dosing is a third dose here in the state of California,” he said. “8.7 million people have received a dose of booster — we need to increase that number, there are 3,600 people hospitalized [with COVID-19] today.”
Weeks ago Newsom and Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, announced the first identified case of the Omicron variant in the United States. Now, Newsom said he can report at least 48 states with cases — marking at least 191 people with the variant.
“This variant is now taking over the Delta [variant] and presents itself all across this state and this nation. How do we know that?” Newsom said. “We know that because we trace and track the variant notably through wastewater assessments that are done every day.”
The Governor’s announcements Wednesday covered the booster requirement for healthcare workers — which still allows for exemptions — expanded test access and
Booster mandate for all healthcare workers
“We recognize now that just being fully vaccinated is not enough with this new variant and we believe it’s important to extend [the vaccination] requirement to getting that third dose, to getting boosted,” Newsom said.
The deadline to get a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is Feb. 1.
Newsom went on to say that the state hired 17,000 contracted staff members to prepare for any surge in cases among healthcare workers, to make sure care is available in hospitals across the state.
Testing before return to schools
Newsom said keeping schools open and children in their classrooms is of the utmost importance to the state. To continue those efforts, the state will distribute at-home test kits to every K-12 student who will be returning to a public school.
“We want to make sure they come back in as good a shape as when they left — meaning we want to make sure that we are testing our kids and preparing them to come back to in person instruction,” Newsom said.
Six million tests, at no charge to the students or parents, were ordered to accomplish this goal. All will be sent out to partners across the state to get the Antigen tests and some PCR tests to students before they return to campus.
Expanded testing
Of the around 20,000 COVID-19 testing sites in the U.S., Newsom said California’s 6,288 make up about 30% of the total in the country.
To continue the state’s “nation-leading testing efforts” state officials are working with the testing sites to expand hours, particularly in areas where there is high demand, Newsom said.
“We’ve been able to determine that 90% of Californians have access to testing sites within 30 minutes of home,” Newsom said. “60% within just 15 min of their home.”
He went on to explain that the most common thing he hears is that it’s difficult to find a spot to get tested or to make an appointment, but said the process is simple through the state’s website.
To learn more about getting tested, or making an appointment for a vaccine or booster, click here.
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