In a shocking turn of events, California has become the first U.S. state to shift to an “endemic” COVID-19 approach.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the plan, which shifts focus from mask mandates and business shutdowns to prevention techniques and quick outbreak management.
“We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with this virus,” Newsom said, per Just the News.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, California has adopted what many voters would call some of the strictest COVID-19 protocols.
Aside from concrete policies, like lifting the state's indoor mask mandate or an anticipated announcement of when schools can lift mask mandates, Newsom did not lay out a specific policy plan for switching from "pandemic" to "endemic.”
"This pandemic won’t have a defined end,” he said. “There’s no finish line."
The governor hopes to stockpile 75 million masks and continue a push for vaccines in the state through SMARTER: Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education and Rx.
