Gov. Gavin Newsom emphasizes importance of face coverings during COVID-19 briefing

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION)

UPDATE 6/22/2020 2 p.m. Gov. Gavin Newsom stressed the importance of face coverings while sharing that 35.6% of California's COVID-19 cases have happened in the past 14 days during a news conference Monday.

Last week, Newsom issued guidance requiring that Californians wear face coverings in public areas, with some exceptions. He said a sneeze can travel as far as 26 feet.

When updating statewide COVID-19 information, Newsom said there have been 46,735 new cases in the past 14 days, which is 35.6% of the total number of cases around the state. He said there has also been a slight uptick in the positivity rate. It is still down from the beginning of the pandemic because there is more testing. The number of hospitalizations has also increased, and has gone up 16% in the past 14 days.

The number of ICU patients has also gone up 11% in 14 days.

According to Newsom, state capacity includes 73,867 hospital beds, 52,745 surge beds and 11,627 ventilators.

Dr. Ghaly said during the update that 130.1 million masks have been distributed to various business sectors.

PREVIOUS STORY: Gov. Gavin Newsom is providing an update on how the state of California is responding to COVID-19.

According to the California Department of Public Health, there were 173,824 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide as of June 20, up 4,515 from the previous day, and 5,495 deaths, up 71 from the previous day.