As COVID-19 hospitalizations and positivity rates continue to decline, the California Health and Human Services Agency and Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) today announced reductions in medical surge sites set up throughout the state.
Three alternate care sites transitioned to warm status earlier this month. These sites will remain available as surge capacity should there be a subsequent wave of COVID-19 or to respond to other emergencies. Two additional sites will transition to warm status on March 15, 2021.
Changes to the alternate care sites include:
- Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, at the former home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, along with the Porterville and Imperial sites transitioned to warm status earlier this month.
- Alternate care sites in Costa Mesa and Palomar Medical Center in San Diego will transition to warm status on March 15.
- Federal Medical Stations (FMS) at the following sites had previously been placed into a warm status:
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- Riverside – Riverside County Fairgrounds and Vacant Sears Building
- Los Angeles – LA Convention Center
- San Mateo – San Mateo County Event Center
- Contra Costa – The Craneway Pavilion
- Fresno – Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center
Today’s announcement follows a months-long effort by the state of California, federal partners, hospital systems, local health jurisdictions, and local emergency medical service agencies to support California’s health care delivery system and to respond to a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. These efforts were successful and COVID-19 hospitalizations are continuing to trend downward. As of March 8, California reported 3,776 COVID-19 hospitalizations, down more than 40 percent over the last two weeks.
At the same time, vaccination rates are increasing across the state. More than one in 10 Californians over the age of 16 (3.35 million) are fully vaccinated and more than one in four (1.7 million) people 65 and over are fully vaccinated. More than 250,000 vaccines have been provided through two Community Vaccination Centers – the RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland and Cal State Los Angeles in East Los Angeles – and supporting Mobile Vaccination Units.