Officials say the pandemic is pushing California's health care system to the brink of catastrophe, and the governor's office has deployed more than 1,200 medical workers to help ensure hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities are adequately staffed.
The additional workers include more than 800 contract employees who come from the same pool that many hospitals around the state already use to secure extra help.
“It’s not like there's an extra magical pool the state has," said James Williams, director of the emergency operations center for Santa Clara County. “A lot of it, I fear, is resource shifting when there is a much broader need.”
The bottom line is that medical workers are stretched thin on all fronts, and Williams says the state will send those workers to the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California and other places where hospitals are the most overwhelmed.