SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday the state would loan 500 ventilators to the national stockpile for use by New York and other states experiencing a crush of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
California chose to loan some of its equipment because it is not yet in as dire a situation as New York, now the nation's epicenter for the crisis, said Jesse Melgar, a spokesman for the governor.
Newsom said state modeling shows California will hit its peak of cases sometime in May. “I know that if the tables were turned and we were experiencing a hospital surge, other states would come to our aid and provide ventilators just as we are today,” Newsom said in a statement.