Click play above to hear the full July 27 COVID-19 update, including the Spanish-language update from Dr. Gil Chavez.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that California will be investing more money and resources to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the Central Valley.
The governor says the state will allocate $52 million to help support health care workers and pay for new personnel in the eight-county region, funding made possible from a half-billion-dollar U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention grant.
California is also sending three “strike teams” to the Central Valley, including state staff and community-based groups, to help mitigate the spread.
“While we see the positivity rate in the state of California growing modestly … it’s not happening evenly in every part of the state,” Newsom said of the higher rates in the Central Valley.
Speaking from Stockton during his regular COVID-19 update, Newsom acknowledged that farmworkers and other essential employees in the Central Valley have been hit disproportionately hard by transmission of the virus, and that many of those workers are Latino.
He noted on Monday that the eight counties in the valley have positivity rates ranging from 10.7% to 17.7%, far higher than the statewide average of 7.5%.
Statewide, COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing, according to Newsom, “but at a more modest pace than we saw two or three weeks ago,” at 3%.
The average number of deaths each day for the virus increased in the past week to 109.
Newsom urged residents to remain vigilant and not let down their guards when it comes to wearing masks and physical-distancing.
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