Story at a glance
- Newsom says state officials have been in constant contact with federal agencies.
- Those infected came from repatriation flights, or from flights overseas and traveled back to the U.S. on their own.
- Newsom said the state does not have enough testing kits.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday that 8,400 people are being monitored for coronavirus in the state, and 33 people have tested positive.
During a news conference Thursday, Newsom said five of those people infected have been moved out of the state.
The governor said state officials have been in “constant contact with federal agencies,” and those being monitored arrived in the state on domestic commercial flights. He said the state’s top priority is to get enough testing kits to detect the virus, noting that supplies are currently “inadequate.”
“We have just a few hundred testing kits in California,” Newsom said during a news conference with public health officials. “That is simply inadequate to do justice to the kind of testing we need.”
Newsom said 24 of those infected came from repatriation flights, and seven caught the virus overseas and traveled back to the U.S. on their own.
This comes after it was announced Wednesday that a new case of coronavirus in California could be the first known instance in the U.S. of the virus spreading among the general public.
Officials said the person did not have a history of traveling to areas with the virus or known exposure to another person with the virus.
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