Gov. Newsom details 33 California coronavirus cases; state calls latest a ‘turning point’

The latest California coronavirus patient receiving treatment in Sacramento who caught the virus from an unknown person represents a “turning point,” but risk to the public remains low, the director of California’s Public Health Department said Thursday.

Officials have traced the other 32 cases identified in California to international travel or contact with an infected spouse, California Department of Public Health Director Sonia Angell said during a news conference in Sacramento. Five of the infected people have since left the state, leaving 28 still in California.

The state only has about 200 kits to test for coronavirus, which Gov. Gavin Newsom said is “simply inadequate.”

Federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more kits are on the way and should arrive in a matter of days, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said.

Newsom said the new kits would “exponentially” increase the state’s ability to monitor and treat the virus. More than 8,000 people in California are being monitored for the virus because they have traveled recently in Asia, state health officials said.

“It’s natural to feel concerned about the novel coronavirus, but I want Californians to know that we have rigorously planned for this public health event,” Ghaly said.

Newsom and other state officials spoke at the state’s Department of Public Health, just down the road from UC Davis Medical Center, where the first American coronavirus patient who caught the virus from an unknown source in the community is being treated. Previously, public health officials had traced all the U.S. cases to recent trips abroad or other known patients.

Newsom and other officials refused to answer specific questions about which other people may have come in contact with the infected woman, a Solano County resident who was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center a week ago, according to an internal memo obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

Delayed test at UC Davis

The state is contacting and interviewing people the patient may have infected, Newsom said. He declined to give further details because he said he doesn’t want to add to public anxiety about the case.

UC Davis doctors requested that public health officials test the woman for coronavirus when she was admitted Wednesday, but the woman “did not fit the existing CDC criteria.” Federal officials did not order a test for her until Sunday, according to the memo, which was first reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper. Positive test results came back Wednesday.

“The case from yesterday is obviously giving the CDC a lot to consider in terms of revising those protocols so that more individuals will be tested with symptoms that might be identified as common pneumonia without a clear source,” Ghaly said. “We are in conversations with the CDC about ensuring... physicians or clinicians who ask for the test will more easily be able to (access) it.”

New testing guidelines “can’t happen soon enough,” Newsom said.

“Testing protocols have been a point of frustration for many of us,” he said.

Where were patients infected?

Some people who were exposed to coronavirus are quarantined at Travis Air Force Base and nearby hospitals in Solano County after they were evacuated from a Japanese cruise ship. But Angell said there is “no evidence” that the woman from Solano County caught the virus from one of those people.

Of the coronavirus cases confirmed in California, 24 are people who were evacuated on repatriation flights, Angell said. Seven others are also travel related. One person caught the virus from their spouse.

At this point, Newsom said he does not plan to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus.

This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 11:58 AM.