Coronaivirus crisis: Thousands of hotel rooms secured for California's homeless amid pandemic, Newsom says
Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to focus on homelessness during a Saturday news briefing.
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday gave an update on Project Roomkey, a program to house thousands of California's homeless during the coronavirus pandemic.
The governor said California has secured a 10,974 hotel rooms for the unsheltered as well as another 5,025 motel rooms, thanks to a partnership with Motel 6.
Motel 6 is making rooms available to the homeless at 47 locations in 19 counties in California.
A total of 4,211 homeless individuals are now staying in hotel rooms due to the virus. The number represents 38 percent of the rooms available to the homeless in California, Newsom said.
Newsom also announced that another 87 Californians died overnight, the highest number of deaths in a single night since the crisis began.
The death toll in the state stands at 1,072, the governor said.
California has confirmed 28,963 positive cases of the coronavirus, with 3,221 hospitalized and 1,173 in the ICU, Newsom said.
The governor has been giving public updates each day during the COVID-19 outbreak, addressing the state's response to the crisis, the number of cases in California, COVID-19 testing and resources for small businesses and workers.
