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Newsom Calls For States To Address COVID-19 Together

Rich Pedroncelli
/
AP Photo
Gov. Gavin Newsom updates the state's response to the coronavirus at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif., Monday, March 23, 2020.

 

Governor Newsom spoke this morning of the importance of multi-state collaboration in responding to COVID-19. He said that he had just completed a call between President Trump and all 50 state governors.

 

Newsom noted that California has been competing against other states to buy personal protective equipment. Speaking on a video call hosted by the nonprofit Tipping Point, he said more coordination is vital to addressing the COVID-19 crisis.

 

"The State of California just procured 100 million N95 masks as a state. We did that competing against other states, other nations, and likely the United States itself," Newsom said. "The lack of coordination just in terms of our purchasing alone really drives, from my perspective, one of the most critical needs. And that is some deeper collaborative spirit of engagement so that we’re not competing against each other, increasing costs, and creating more of a bureaucratic morass, as a consequence of people playing off one another."

Newsom said that in the next day or so, the state will have a better understanding of how the federal coronavirus stimulus package will support Californians, and what gaps will still remain. He emphasized that the state will need help from nonprofits to fill those gaps.

Ozzy Llinas Goodman is a freelance writer and journalist based in Berkeley. Their reporting interests include the uses and policing of public space, underground communities and solidarity economies, and other topics related to human movement, urban space, and civil rights.