Gov. Gavin Newsom announces Project Homekey, potential scaling back of Stay at Home order
(KION)
UPDATE 6/30/2020 12:30 p.m. Gov. Gavin Newsom provided an update Tuesday on Project Roomkey and previewed an announcement Wednesday about a potential scaling back of Stay at Home orders.
Newsom said that so far, Project Roomkey includes 15,679 rooms and has helped an estimated 14,200 people.
As part of the Budget Act signed by the Governor, he said the State will be starting Project Homekey. In the budget $600 million was allocated to the project to acquire permanent housing for those experiencing homelessness by buying and renovating motels around the state.
In addition to announcing Project Homekey, Newsom said he plans to make more announcements Wednesday about toggling back Stay at Home orders.
He said 19 counties are on the State's watchlist, and it is likely that four more will be added over the next 24 hours.
Newsom said the concerns stem from an increase in hospitalizations and the number of people in the ICU. Yesterday, Newsom said there was a 6.3% increase in hospitalizations and a 4.3% increase in ICU cases. Over the past 14 days, Newsom said hospitalizations are up 43% and ICU cases are up 37%.
The rate of positivity is also concerning, according to Newsom. Two weeks ago, the State had a 4.4% COVID-19 positivity rate, but said that has risen to 5.6% over the last 14 days. In the past 7 days, Newsom said the positivity rate is at 5.9%.
PREVIOUS STORY: Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to provide an update on Project Roomkey, a state initiative to help Californians experiencing homelessness isolate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a news conference Tuesday.
Over the weekend, Newsom ordered bars to close in several California counties in response to rising case numbers, and he recommended that several other counties close their bars.
Last week, he said he wanted Imperial County in southern California to reimpose Stay at Home orders to a high positivity rate.
According to the California Department of Public Health, there were more than 216,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide as of June 28. There were 5,936 reported deaths.
