CA Gov. Gavin Newsom is addressing press via remote presser-- he kicks off by thanking Trump for deploying the USNS Mercy: "I don't want to overpromise when it's actually going to appear in the port, but it's been outfitted & it was just wonderful to see the ship earlier today." 
Newsom says that there are 75,000 licensed beds across California's 416 hospitals: "We need an additional 50,000 beds in our system, our new modeling suggests 50,000 is the new target number."
30K of those beds can be accommodated through flex of the existing hospital system.
30K of those beds can be accommodated through flex of the existing hospital system.
For 17k of 20k beds needed, Newsom says they're thinking "convention facilities, fairgrounds, identifying specific assets throughout the state, including motels & hotels..not just for homeless, but potentially to provide capacity, including skilled nursing facilities & the like."
Gavin Newsom addresses the dearth of personal protective equipment, telling reporters governors"are competing for the same limited supplies, and as a consequence of that, people are tripping over themselves to make deals that ultimately are raising the cost of these supplies.”
Gavin Newsom says, "it’s incumbent to begin the process of centralizing the procurement...We'll continue in the state of California, the punch way above our weight. We're going to be sending, literally, chartered flights from China, into the state of California," to procure PPE.
CA Governor Gavin Newsom tells reporters @ElonMusk has delivered a thousand ventilators to the system today. "They arrived in Los Angeles, and Elon Musk is already working with a hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real time, it’s an heroic effort."
I asked Newsom about CA's efforts to procure additional PPE from the federal stockpile-- he told me, "I want to just be sober and direct to you and those who may be watching, we are not counting on the strategical stockpile to solve this problem," and is relying on supply chains.
Gov. Newsom said instrumental to CA's response to COVID-19 is the state's "special & unique" ties to China which "allows us points of contact & the ability to facilitate brokers and distributors, all throughout Mainland China" to procure safety equipment.
In addition, CA Governor Gavin Newsom has announced $100M to help protect homeless Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elon Musk tweets that the FDA-approved ventilators he donated to fight COVID-19 were purchased from a surplus supply in China and airshipped to LA.
