Calif. Health and Human Services Secretary provides update on response to COVID-19

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION) California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly is providing an update on the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his Tuesday updates, Ghaly usually talks about tier assignments within the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Most of the state is in the purple tier.

Since the last update, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would be split into five regions, and regions with an ICU capacity lower than 15% will be subject to a regional stay at home order. So far, two regions have been placed in a stay at home order. One of the regions is the San Joaquin Valley, which includes San Benito County.

According to the California Department of Public Health, there were more than 1.36 million confirmed cases statewide as of Dec. 6. 19,935 Californians have died.