California Adopts Nation’s First ‘Endemic’ COVID-19 Policy
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California became the first state to formally announce an “endemic” approach to the coronavirus on Thursday, unveiling a policy that focuses on prevention and quick reaction to new outbreaks, according to The Associated Press.
Gov. Gavin Newsom outlined a plan that shifts toward “normalcy” and away from mask mandates and business shutdowns. The idea is to quickly spot surges and variants, add health care workers, build a stockpile of tests, and combat misinformation about the virus.
“We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with the virus,” Newsom said during a news conference.
Newsom spoke at a state warehouse located east of Los Angeles, which stores pandemic supplies. As the surge of the Omicron variant fades, he said, “we’re going to stay on top of this.”
“This pandemic won’t have a defined end,” he emphasized. “There’s no finish line.”
Instead, he noted, the coronavirus will likely enter an endemic stage, where the virus still circulates but becomes more manageable as more people build immunity through vaccination or prior infection.
California won’t have a definitive switch on or off, he noted, and the remaining executive emergency orders will stay in place for now. At the same time, he lifted the state’s indoor mask requirements this week, and at the end of the month, schools will no longer require masks.
Newsom’s announcement has specific goals, such as stockpiling 75 million masks, creating infrastructure to provide up to 200,000 vaccinations and 500,000 tests per day during an outbreak, and adding 3,000 medical workers within three weeks when surges happen. His administration is calling it the “SMARTER Plan” — for Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education and Rx, which refers to improving treatments for COVID-19.
The plan also includes increased monitoring of virus remnants in wastewater to notify health officials of the first signs of another surge. Masks won’t be required but will be encouraged in some settings, the AP reported.
Republican leaders who have criticized Newsom’s handling of the pandemic also critiqued his latest announcement, the AP reported. Jessica Millan Patterson, the state’s GOP chairwoman, called it an “extra-large helping of word salad” and called on the governor to “follow the lead of other blue states and end his state of emergency or lift his school mask mandate.”
At the same time, some health officials have said it’s a good time to make plans for the endemic phase of the pandemic. Jeffrey Klausner, MD, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, told the AP that “the timing is right on.”
“Surveillance, testing, vaccination and treatment make the context very different and make it appropriate to shift our response from a pandemic response of trying to do everything possible to a more rational response to try to implement things that we have strong evidence that work,” he said.
One of the goals of the plan is to avoid business closures and statewide mandates, Mark Ghaly, MD, California’s health secretary, said during the announcement. At the same time, the state will still require children to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend schools in the fall.
Under the California plan, if a higher level of the virus is detected, health officials will determine if there is a new variant. If so, state and federal officials have a goal to determine within 30 days if the variant responds to existing tests, treatments, vaccines, and prior infection.
The plan also includes new education initiatives, such as “myth-buster videos,” to fight misinformation about the virus and help the public to understand changing guidelines.
Newsom’s plan will cost billions, the AP reported, which has largely been outlined in a pandemic response package that the governor proposed as part of his budget last month. It includes $1.9 billion that lawmakers have approved to boost staffing at hospitals, and to increase COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution.
The proposed budget also includes $1.7 billion to increase California’s health care workforce, invest in laboratory testing capacity, and focus on outbreak investigation, the AP reported.
Newsom’s administration is now working with legislative leaders to reduce the number of executive orders in place. The orders have dwindled from 561 to fewer than 100 in recent months, he said.
SOURCES:
The Associated Press: “California adopts nations 1st ‘endemic’ virus policy.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom: “Governor Newsom Unveils the Next Phase of California’s Nation-Leading Pandemic Response.”
California SMARTER: “The Next Phase of California’s COVID-19 Response.”
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