State Officials Call on Healthy Californians to ‘Meet the Moment’ By Volunteering

Officials are calling on healthy California residents to go out and volunteer in their community — including making masks, answering 211 calls and giving blood.

The program, called Californians For All, is aimed to help connect residents with volunteer opportunities that meet their preferences. It was created with a statewide coalition of nonprofits, including the American Red Cross and the California Association of Food Banks.

“If you’re healthy, and you can make a difference in your community, we need you at food banks, we need you giving blood, we need you delivering meals, and we need you joining us,” said Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer, who is leading the initiative. “If you want to stay at home to be safe, you can still make an enormous difference.”

The state saw a 7.4% increase of positive daily cases as of Monday, and 5% increase in the total number of deaths.

Newsom also noted that over 2,634 hotel reservations have been made to allow caregivers to allow them “to shower, to change, to decompress” before returning home. Newsom said these reservations allow workers to keep their families safe as they do this essential work.

The governor said he would provide more information about testing — particularly among the homeless population — and increased testing sites at Wednesday’s briefing.

Localities Reopening

In response to some local governments reopening portions of their cities and counties, Newsom said localities are allowed to reopen spaces so long as they don’t convene large groups. He said the state is trying to create more clarity in the process, but cautions local officials not to open things up too soon.

“Practicing physical distancing has worked to keep those [case] numbers relatively modest, in terms of growth,” said Newsom. “But if we pull back too quickly, those numbers will go through the roof.”

Hospitals Holding PPE

The California Nurses Association has alleged that hospitals are stockpiling personal protective equipment (PPE) in case of a massive influx of cases — resulting in nurses being improperly protected.

Newsom said he’s heard those allegations.

“Give me the CEO’s cell phone," he said. "and I’ll call, because that is an outrage.”

The governor said he’s hopeful that the state will see millions more units of PPE, and can distribute it soon.

— Michelle Wiley (@MichelleEWiley)