California Activates Mass Mortality Program Over Rising Covid-19 Infections, Purchases 5K More Body Bags

by

In a press conference Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom said the activation of the program, which coordinates mutual aid activities between state and local agencies in a crisis, is a direct response to the rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

Sixty refrigerated storage units, each over 15 feet long, will be used statewide for emergency flooding for coroners and morgues.

Newsom said the program addresses what he called “sobering realities” in the state’s fight against the pandemic.

“I don’t want people to scare people, but this is a deadly disease. And we need to be aware of where we are on this current journey together, to the vaccine. We’re not at the finish line,” said the governor. .

Health officials in California on Tuesday announced the state’s fifth consecutive day of more than 30,000 new Covid-19 infections. The daily mean of new Covid-19 deaths in California was 163 on December 14, almost four times the death rate a month earlier.

The total number of fatalities in the state on Tuesday is 21,188. Nationally, the pandemic death toll surpassed 300,000 on Monday as health officials warn there is no immediate sign of a decline.

Hospital and intensive care admissions in California are unprecedented as home stays were enacted last week for large areas of the state.
The restrictions are triggered by whether a particular part of the state has less than 15% ICU availability; The Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions have less than 2% ICU availability as of Tuesday, and San Joaquin Valley dropped briefly to zero over the weekend before recovering, Newsom said.

About 3,000 patients are currently being treated in ICUs statewide, adding pressure to the California health care system.

Newsom emphasized that this does not mean that local hospitals run out of space, but that staffing remains the most immediate challenge.

He signed an executive order temporarily relinquishing some nurse-patient relationships, and the state is adding nursing staff through contract agencies, the California National Guard and California Health Corps.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing 80 paramedics and emergency medical technicians, and the state has requested 200 additional health workers from the Department of Defense.

The state is stretching resources to “these primary care health workers, especially these nurses, who are just doing heroic work every day and asking for some more again during these very challenging weeks ahead,” he said.

CNN’s Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.

.Source