California adopts nation's first 'endemic' virus policy
California Gov. Gavin 온라인 바카라 게임om on Thursday announced the first shift by a state to an "endemic" approach to the coronavirus pandemic that emphasizes prevention and quick reactions to outbreaks over mandates, a milestone nearly two years in the making that harkens to a return to a more normal existence.
온라인 바카라 게임om said the approach 바카라 게임 웹사이트 which includes pushing back against false claims and other misinformation 바카라 게임 웹사이트 means maintaining a wary watchfulness attuned to warning signs of the next deadly new surge or variant.
"This disease is not going away," he told The Associated Press in advance of his formal announcement. "It바카라 게임 웹사이트s not the end of the quote, unquote, war."
A disease reaches the endemic stage when the virus still exists in a community but becomes manageable as immunity builds. But there will be no definitive turn of the switch, the Democratic governor said, unlike the case with Wednesday바카라 게임 웹사이트s lifting of the or an announcement coming Feb. 28 of when precisely the school mask-wearing mandate will end.
And there will be no immediate lifting of the dozens of remaining executive emergency orders that have helped run the state since 온라인 바카라 게임om imposed the nation바카라 게임 웹사이트s first statewide stay-home order in March 2020.
"This pandemic won바카라 게임 웹사이트t have a defined end. There바카라 게임 웹사이트s no finish line," he told the AP. With that in mind, he said his administration tried to craft "a plan that allows us to be prepared without being paranoid and more alert to what바카라 게임 웹사이트s happening around us without being anxious."
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and with omicron fading in many parts of the world
온라인 바카라 게임om바카라 게임 웹사이트s administration came up with a to capsulize key elements of its new approach: SMARTER. The letters stand for Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education and Rx, a common abbreviation for prescriptions and a reference to improving treatments for COVID-19.
Tracking COVID-19
- US government plans to make high-quality masks available for kids
- More than 50 million households have received free government COVID-19 tests
- The US is lagging on booster shots compared to other western countries
Living with COVID-19 under 온라인 바카라 게임om's plan means boosting the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s surveillance, including increased monitoring of virus remnants in wastewater to watch for the first signs of a surge. Masks won't be required but will be encouraged in many settings.
If a higher level of the virus is detected, health officials will analyze its genotype to determine if it is a new variant. If so, state and federal officials have a goal to within 30 days determine if it responds to existing tests, treatments and immunities from vaccines or prior infections.
Testing and staffing in the affected area will be increased, including temporary medical workers to assist strained hospitals.
The plan sets specific goals, such as stockpiling 75 million masks, ramping up to 200,000 vaccinations and 500,000 tests a day, and adding 3,000 medical workers within three weeks in surge areas through ongoing contracts with national registry companies.
Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious-diseases control expert at the University of California, San Francisco, has urged a cautious approach to lifting mandates. He saw drafts of 온라인 바카라 게임om바카라 게임 웹사이트s plan and likes it.
"They have a long-term plan that바카라 게임 웹사이트s trying to capture these events as they occur and has the supply chain stuff you need to have pre-positioned so that we can move forward in a thoughtful but rapid way to control new outbreaks," he said. "We바카라 게임 웹사이트ll be able to apply them quickly and in a targeted way that바카라 게임 웹사이트s least disruptive to get the job done."
California바카라 게임 웹사이트s health secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, said one of the goals is to avoid business closures and other far-reaching mandates. However, he said the state's requirement that schoolchildren be vaccinated against coronavirus by fall remains in effect.
The plan calls for a continued emphasis on efforts in vulnerable and underserved populations that have experienced disproportionately high death rates. And it includes new education, including "myth-buster videos" to fight misinformation and disinformation and help interpret ever-evolving precautions for a confused public whiplashed by safeguards that seemingly shift by the day and vary across county lines.
It relies on continued testing sites including in schools, more over-the-counter virus tests, building and tracking strategic stockpiles of testing kits, surgical and K95 masks, hospital gowns and gloves, ventilators to breathe for the most seriously ill. In coordination with the federal government, it calls for a first-in-the-nation study of the pandemic바카라 게임 웹사이트s direct and indirect impacts long-term on both people and communities.
"One of the fundamental lessons we바카라 게임 웹사이트ve come to understand is that the disease has evolved and our understanding has to evolve in terms of how we approach it with the kind of flexibility that is required," 온라인 바카라 게임om said. "We have to prepare for that uncertainty, we have to communicate that uncertainty and this plan is put forth with that in mind."
온라인 바카라 게임om and Ghaly said the same constant monitoring will be useful in spotting other similar respiratory airborne diseases while leading to improvements in California바카라 게임 웹사이트s overall public health system.
All this will cost billions, much of it already outlined in the $3.2 billion pandemic response package 온라인 바카라 게임om sought as part of his budget last month. That includes $1.9 million that to boost staffing at hospitals and increase coronavirus testing and vaccine distribution, as well as existing money and anticipated federal funds.
His proposed budget also includes $1.7 billion to beef up the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s health care workforce, with more investment in increased laboratory testing capacity, data collection and outbreak investigation.
온라인 바카라 게임om defended keeping in place some of his executive emergency orders, which he said most recently have allowed the state to quickly bring in temporary medical workers and to quickly distribute more than 13 million home test kits to schools.
Those orders have dwindled from 561 to fewer than 100 in recent months, he said, and his administration is working with legislative leaders to eventually make them unnecessary. Republicans in both legislative chambers have been lobbying the Democratic majorities for weeks to lift California바카라 게임 웹사이트s state of emergency.
The omicron surge is ebbing as quickly as it spiked in December, with falling back to near pre-surge levels. Hospitalizations and intensive care cases were , and the state's predict a continued gradual easing over the next month.
"This is exactly what people are going to be asking in the next few weeks: Are we in a new phase? How do we live with this disease without living in fear?" 온라인 바카라 게임om said.
He expects other states and the federal government to soon follow California, because "I think the public will be demanding of this."