Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom has sent an urgent letter to President Donald Trump requesting the immediate deployment of one of the navy’s hospital ships due to the coronavirus surge.
Newsom wants the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship
ship to dock at the Port of Los Angeles through September 1, to help decompress the state’s health care delivery system in Los Angeles in response to COVID-19.
In the letter Newsom notes the urgency stating. “In the last 24 hours, we had 126 new COVID-19 cases, a 21 percent increase.” He added, ” We project that roughly 56 percent of our population — 25.5 million people — will be infected with the virus over an eight week period.
Newsom ended the letter calling for a coordinated effort of the navy, state emergency services and the defense department to “rapid deployment of this asset.”
A copy of the Governor’s letter can be found here.
Written by Tracey Petersen.
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