California needs 50,000 more hospital beds

California needs another 50,000 hospital beds to prepare for the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic, as well as at least a billion gloves and hundreds of millions of gowns, masks and other protective gear, Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday,

The number of additional beds needed is staggering, given that there are now just 75,000 licensed hospital beds across California’s 416 hospitals, and is more than double what state officials had projected just a few days ago.

About 30,000 of that capacity can come from existing hospitals, by converting buildings on their campuses or parking lots to hospital tents, or by squeezing more beds into current facilities, Newsom said.

The additional 20,000 beds needed to meet the gap will have to come from temporary sites and hotels.

So far, the state has plans to open up about 3,000 new beds in the short-term, he said — including at Seton Medical Center in San Mateo County and two other facilities in southern California — and are “deep in negotiations” to open up other facilities in Northern and Central California, including at state fairgrounds, convention facilities, motels and hotels.

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