California governor addresses coronavirus response

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) – California’s governor unveiled the next steps to tracking and fighting the coronavirus there.

Governor Gavin Newsom and his team spoke with reporters about the strategy fighting the virus. This comes after a woman in Solano County tested positive without traveling to China.

So far 33 people in the state are infected with the virus. Five of those people have since moved out of state.

Governor Newsom said they are partnering with the CDC to override protocols, including tracking people who are in contact with those with the virus as well as requesting more testing kits.

Newsom said, “Everyone in this country is rightfully anxious about this moment but I think they should know that we are meeting this moment with the type of urgency that is necessary and I don’t want to overextend the anxiety that people naturally face. It’s common sense. This is something we are organizing around and been organizing around for months.”

Officials say this newest case marks a new turn in how they approach the epidemic.

California Department of Public Health director Sonia Angell said, “We do realize that this case we’re discussing today marks a turning point. And as such we’re expanding our surveillance activities, increasing our laboratory capacity as mention with more testing, were planning increase as demand on our medical system, and we’re using the latest science to model and forecast the needs for our communities to respond to date.”