Gov. Gavin Newsom performs a rapid COVID-19 test on himself at the Native American Health Center in Oakland on Dec. 22, 2021. (photo credit: Harika Maddala)
Health care workers in California have until Feb. 1 to get a COVID-19 booster shot, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday at a news conference in Oakland.
Newsom spoke Wednesday morning at the Native American Health Center at 2950 International Blvd. where he announced three strategies to help protect residents from COVID-19.
The requirement that health care workers receive a booster shot was announced Tuesday and the governor made it formal Wednesday.
The other two strategies include providing COVID-19 tests for school children before they return to school from the holiday break and expanding the hours of COVID-19 testing sites.
“Two doses is great,” Newsom said. “The booster is a game-changer.”
“That third dose is needed,” he said.
The definition of health care workers includes nursing home staff and all staff in high-risk congregate settings.
Any health care worker who has not received a booster shot yet must get tested for COVID-19 twice weekly until they get a booster.
At the moment, Newsom doesn’t see the need to expand the requirement for boosters to other segments of the population. He said at this moment the state is focusing on children and the health care workforce.
Hopefully, the state will not have to consider requiring boosters for others, he said.
The booster mandate for health care workers is meant to curb a potential shortage of those workers and protect the hospital capacity in the state as the omicron variant becomes the dominant strain of the COVID-19 virus.
The state is buying 6 million COVID-19 tests so it can deliver one to two free COVID-19 tests for each student. The tests will be distributed at points of access to be determined, Newsom said.
“I don’t want to see our schools shut down,” the governor said.
The tests will be primarily rapid-results tests rather than tests that take a day or longer to register results, he said.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said that nothing is more important for the state’s school children than safe schools as the state faces the omicron variant.
Because of the state’s vaccination efforts, just 32 schools in the state are shut down because of COVID-19, compared with 9,600 across the country, Newsom said.
To provide every resident with access to testing, the state is expanding the availability of antigen tests. Antigen tests are rapid COVID-19 tests that register results in about 15 minutes.
Those tests will be more available as the state increases the operating hours of state-sponsored, OptumServe testing sites that at capacity.
To emphasize the importance of testing, Newsom got tested Wednesday at the health care center in Oakland. He swabbed himself.
California has 31 percent of the nation’s COVID-19 testing sites or 6,288, the governor said. Over 90 percent of Californians live within 30 minutes of a testing site and 60 percent within 15 minutes of a site, he said.
A large union of health care workers offered their support for booster shots for everyone.
“As frontline healthcare workers, we are very concerned about the devastation the omicron variant could wreak on our state’s families and our ability as healthcare workers to deliver the care people need,” said Renee Saldana, spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, a union serving more than 100,000 health care workers.
“We are all in this together and one of the best Christmas gifts you can give health care workers this year is to do everything you can to slow the spread so our hospitals can keep up: Get boosted, wear your mask, get tested, and limit your exposure to others if you’re not feeling well,” Saldana said.
41 comments
As game changing as the other shots that apparently aren’t good enough anymore?
I think I heard on the news yesterday that if you get the booster you become “superhuman.” Loosely interpreted, of course.
Superhuman? Mutants more likely. My understanding is, the Covid mutates because of the jab. Thus the varients: Delta, 0mnichom … Manchurian (heh), were created by the vaxx. And. The boosters only protect against the original, Covid19. Hasn’t that one died out by now?
“We are all in this together” constantly spoken.
No we are not..stop using that cliche!
Remember when they sold the initial “vaccines” as game changing? Lol
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He generally has staff do his swabbing for him.
Why self swab if you don’t have to.
You have to swaB almost to your BRAIN!
NOT JUST UP YOUR NOSE…DUMBASS!
Kids! Don’t try this at home!
This has been proven as false. As one that works at a testing site there is no need to go after gray matter any more.
Besides, how can you test what isn’t there?
Is Oakland the only place in California that exists for this dude?
Don’t worry, Klaus Schwab’s world economic forum stooge will be coming for you, better take a stand Now before you’re standing by yourself and there’s nobody left to stand with you.
Now there’s a photo for the history books!
Stand up to the madness!
No more mandates that businesses police their customers vaccination status. Is this really the world you want to live in?
Come sign the petition to end the state of emergency and end the requirement that businesses check their customers vaccination status.
https://restorecontracosta.com/
Thanks to those that have signed already.
With no opposition, the mandates have only gotten worse. Join the citizens movement to say “no more”
A wistful pose for the camera. As Gavin preforms on his nose flute
What a lie. Triple vaxers are still getting and spreading it. Never mind the chance of getting blood clots or myocarditis.
The vaccines are still on EUA The reason they are still being used under the Emergency Use is because the the drug companies don’t have to accept any liability if the vax makes you sick or kills you
Healthy kids are dying from the vaccine. Not from the illness. This is the most backward time in human history where the healthy have to get sick to protect those who should protect themselves.
Shoving a swizzle stick up his nose doesn’t count…
The guy is just pathetic.. how he got as far in life as he has absolutely amazes me.. and what amazes me even more or the pathetic fools that keep him voted in office..
Think he is trying to find his brain.
Go swab yourself, Newsom.
As for schools, if you don’t want to see them closed down, don’t close them down.
This is getting so creepy and weird. I feel like I’m around zombies obsessed with this.
O yeah, I will get right on that Sleezeball.
Sending kits home withe kids, why? They are not required to self test before they return, so why send them? Most that are sent home will not be used, so more money wasted by you.
And now mandating a booster for healthcare … really? I would think in that industry, those folks would know what is best for themselves and would not need a dictator to tell them what to do. Way to remove the choice …. I envision more people leaving the health field because of this.
A well educated friend, a chem engineer for a large biotech company, took both shots up front. No questions asked. She is now questioning why a booster is needed already, and why some countries are already pushing a 4th booster. The question is, do we really know enough about the vaccines that we can mandate them?
Home test kits, who is monitoring those to see that the nose it went in is actually for the person claiming the test? There is a reason there are testing sites available, so that a medical professional can witness that the snot belongs to the nose it came out of.
That wouldn’t be the first thing he puts up his nose !
No truer words…
Governor Newsome and Mayor Lightfoot have one thing in common:
They are both sadists.
Governor Picknose
Not quite the pinnacle of stupidity, but another building block toward it. He should have gone outa bit more, with his big nanny government theatre, and done this at that French Laundry, or at La Datcha Cabo San Lucas
I hope someone will make a meme of that picture! LOL
Maybe if Newsolini sticks the swab further up his nose he may find the part of this brain that works for not only the liberal socialist progressive democrats and is not only out for his own financial and political gain!!!!
That would be a miracle.
It would make more sense if he stuck the swab where the sun don’t shine.
To me, Newsom can take that swab and stick it somewhere else!
This has become way out of hand and way beyond anything Aldous Huxley ever imagined! 🙄
+1
Raise your hand if you know at least four people, fully vaxxed, waxxed, boosted and bubble wrapped, that still got Covid.
Beginning to look a lot more like the flu these days, isn’t it. How many times have we heard, “I got my flu shot and still got the flu”
Go woke, go broke.
Hand raised
Thats because the covid shot was designed for the Wild type, not any of the variants. They were working on a delta version but it was never released to public. So like the Flu shot, you can get some benefit, but can hardly describe it as a vaccine (at least the original definition of vaccine before they changed the definition).
Newsom is no stranger to putting things up his nose
With that nose like that, never invite him to a cocaine party
Well, you can’t deny the miscreant for a photo-op! He is seeking recognition for his run for President or Senate!
“..see I believe in the garbage I am fed for the sake of all people, color or otherwise…!!
He likes the feel of swabbibg himself. Reminds him of his Pacific Heights crack parties.
Sneezing and watery eyes???
I test every week and have never does either of those. Everyone is different in their reaction.
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