Given our connectedness to rest of the world and our sheer size, we have always understood that a fast-spreading and novel infectious disease could show up here first, in California, before anywhere else in the country.

In recent years we have had a plan for a flu-like pandemic – one that has built on our knowledge and experience with previous flu-strains and infectious diseases.

Our public health infrastructure and our expertise is second to none. We have been preparing for this particular virus since it was discovered last year, and we have been in deep and daily coordination with the CDC, local government and our health system as it spread.

We’re perhaps the most prepared state in the country for tackling this threat. That is why the federal government chose California as the destination for six repatriation flights of U.S. Citizens from China and the Diamond Princess cruise ships.

To continue reading this message, regarding numbers at a glance, actions taken by the State and Federal Government, as well as how people can protect themselves, CLICK HERE. 

For updates from the California Department of Public Health on COVID-19, CLICK HERE.