The coronavirus pandemic is "not going to take the weekend off or go on summer vacation," and if Californians believe that it is and ease up on taking precautions as the state reopens, "we're in real trouble," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.
"If people just assume, like they did in Newport Beach over the weekend, that the virus is going to take the weekend off or go on summer vacation, then we're in real trouble with a potential second wave that erases progress and potentially puts literally tens of thousands of lives at risk," the governor said in an interview airing on NBC's "Today" Wednesday. "So we do, I think, have to be cautious and data will drive our decision making."
As protests mount in California and other states, Newsom said he'd be lying if he suggested that there was no pressure being put on him and the state's government to reopen. However, the decisions will be made based on data and health guidelines, he insisted.
Meanwhile, there are questions about when schools will reopen, and the idea of starting the next school year earlier is being discussed to help address losses caused when schools closed this spring.
"The data will make that decision for us," he said. "It's not back to normal, it's modified."
But getting schools open is important, as parents have to get back to work "if we're ever going to get the economy moving again," the governor said.
Meanwhile, the federal government has been quick to address California's needs as far as equipment, said Newsom.
"I called the president personally and said we need more swabs for specimen so we can increase testing capacity. They were delivered the next day," said Newsom. "Not every governor is saying the same thing."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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