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COVID Tests Required for Patients Admitted to CA Acute-Care Hospitals

Patients admitted to California hospitals must be tested for COVID-19. The new requirement starts this week.  Then, starting December 14th, all healthcare workers at hospitals are required to be tested each week as well. Testing of high-risk personnel can begin on December 7th.

State officials are preparing for a wave of virus cases over the next few weeks that could be linked to Thanksgiving gatherings.

California is reportedly approaching full capacity of its intensive care unit beds. During a Monday coronavirus briefing, Governor Gavin Newsom said current projections show the state running out of ICU beds before Christmas Eve. On Twitter, Newsom said California's coronavirus hospitalizations have increased 89-percent in the last two weeks and could increase two-to-three times within the next month.

Almost all of California's 58 counties are in the state's most restrictive Purple Tier. State health officials say there are now 51 counties facing tighter COVID restrictions, and an overnight stay-at-home order is in effect from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. through December 21st. Among the six counties sliding backwards this week include San Francisco, San Mateo, Lake, and Plumas. The 51 Purple counties represent more than 39.7 million residents, or roughly 99-percent of the state' population. 

California is also set to receive its first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in the next few weeks. The state will get 327-thousand doses of the vaccine, which has to be stored at ultra-low temperatures and which require a second dose, which will follow.  Officials are working to determine the order in which Californians will receive the vaccine. Governor Gavin Newsom says the Moderna vaccine will follow.


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