Gov. Newsom Announces New Actions to Protect Californians from COVID-19

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Dec. 22, announced new booster requirements and testing measures to better protect all Californians as the Omicron variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the nation

The COVID-19 booster requirement for health care workers will mitigate potential staffing shortages while helping to safeguard the state’s hospital capacity and protect the health and safety of Californians. Combined with the new federal policies announced yesterday, these actions will help ensure everyone in California has access to testing throughout the holiday season and that K-12 public school students can return to school safely. 

By Feb. 1, health care workers and all employees in high-risk congregate settings, including nursing homes, will be required to get their booster. In the interim, all health care staff that have not received their booster must test for COVID-19 twice weekly until they are up to date on their vaccines. 

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our schools, the state is also increasing the availability of at-home COVID-19 tests across California so K-12 public-school students can be tested as they return to school from winter break. In early December, the California Department of Public Health or CDPH distributed approximately 2 million tests to schools for this purpose. CDPH will expand those efforts by providing 1 to 2 rapid tests for every student. CDPH will work with local education and health partners to distribute those test kits as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

To ensure every Californian has access to testing, the state will also be expanding antigen test availability and expanding hours of operation at state-sponsored OptumServe sites that are already at capacity. Today, 90% of the population lives within a 30-minute driving distance of a site. Over the course of the pandemic, the state has established 6,288 testing sites statewide, comprising 31% of the nation’s testing sites. In support of this effort, since August, the state has purchased over 12 million over-the-counter tests. CDPH is distributing an additional 6 million tests to community partners serving disproportionately impacted Californians and 4 million to local health jurisdictions.

California has led the nation’s fight against COVID-19, implementing the most robust vaccination and testing programs in the country. To date, California has administered over 64 million vaccination doses and over 116 million tests, with an average turn around of just 48 hours. In recent months, Governor Newsom implemented a series of measures to slowD the spread of COVID-19, including first-in-the-nation vaccine and masking measures requiring that workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated, announcing plans to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in-person when fully approved, requiring masking in schools and implementing a standard that all school staff and all state workers either show proof of full vaccination or be tested. These decisive actions have resulted in California being labeled the safest state to live in during COVID-19 and a national leader in preventing school closures.

As Californians are still learning about the severity of illness caused by Omicron, it is clear that individuals who are up to date on their vaccines, including a booster, are most protected. To help slow the spread of COVID-19, Californians are encouraged to get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask indoors and get tested if sick.