Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Precision Medical Products primarily focused on products for post-surgical patients. But with PPE in short supply nationwide, the company swiftly allocated all its resources toward the production and distribution of N95 and KN95 respirators.

California doctors are diagnosing anything from appendicitis to strep throat with only a phone during the coronavirus pandemic. Video visits and conversations are the closest doctors can get to patients who are sheltering in place and avoiding potential exposure from doctor visits.

Though service gaps and challenges remain, health care could eventually become the Sacramento region’s calling card.

Too much stress costs employers $300 billion a year, according to The American Institute of Stress, as burnout can lead to employee turnover, lack of motivation and dips in productivity.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will not lift his shelter-in-place order until adequate suppression and mitigation measures are in place to prevent future flare-ups. That means tracking down the sick and isolating clusters of new infections, arming hospitals with adequate equipment and setting new guidelines for schools and businesses to reopen.

State officials want to build reserves of doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and other frontline providers to help staff some of the 66,000 additional beds that might be needed for the anticipated mid-May surge. On numbers alone the health corps already shows promise, far exceeding the state’s expectation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has assembled an unusual alliance of corporations and nonprofits and leveraged California’s massive buying power to reach a deal that will bring hundreds of millions of masks and other protective equipment to hospital workers battling the coronavirus.

Health care and life sciences account for around 150,000 jobs in the Sacramento region, making the sector the largest private employer. Experts suggest that the public sector and health care may expand locally, even as the coronavirus pandemic contracts the global economy.

As the number of people hospitalized in California with the coronavirus doubled in just four days, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday sent out an urgent call seeking help from the state’s 37,000 retired and part-time health care professionals. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed confidence Saturday that California has the capacity to produce enough ventilators to meet its projected needs in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But he cautioned that the state’s need could expand if the crisis worsens.