California governor updates progress on “roadmap for recovery”

California Governor Gavin Newsom says he will announce on Wednesday where the state stands on six key categories needed for reopening the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. Newsom said he will have more “clarity” later in the week.

Newsom said Monday that an additional 42 people died overnight from COVID-19 in California, pushing the state’s death toll over 1,000. He said the rate of hospitalizations was down, although the rate of ICU admissions has remained flat.  

Although there are signs that the state is “bending the curve, beginning to flatten the curve,” he said they are not yet seeing the downward trend needed to be on the “roadmap for recovery.” On Friday, Newsom announced the creation of an 80-member task force for reopening California, the largest economy in the country and the fourth-largest economy in the world. 

Newsom also discussed the state’s ongoing efforts to “close the digital divide” for schoolchildren throughout California and enable distance learning. He touted a partnership with Google for 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and said Apple had donated 10,000 AirPods and other equipment. On Monday, he announced Microsoft had donated 70,000 laptops and other equipment. 

Newsom said another player in the effort to increase connectivity capabilities was being undertaken by the California Public Utilities Commission. The governor said the state was setting aside $25 million to fund the CPUC’s setting up of Wi-Fi hotspots plus an additional $5 million towards the agency’s procurement of laptops to be provided to those in need.   

Newsom was joined at his daily update on the state’s response to the coronavirus by his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.