OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

March 18, 2020

The Honorable Donald J. Trump
WhiTe House

1600 Avenue, NW
WashingTon, D.C.

Dear Mr. President

wriTe To respechuIIy reauesT you immediaTely deploy The USNS Mercy HospiTal Ship To
be sTaTioned of The porT of Los Angeles Through SepTember i, 2020, To help decompress
our currenT heaITh care delivery sysTem in Los Angeles region in response To The 
i9 ouTbreak.

As you know, California has been disproporTionaTely impacfed by repaTriaTion efforTs
over The IasT few monThs. Our sTaTe and healTh care delivery sysTem are significanTIy
impacfed by The rapid increase in cases. In The IasT 24 hours, we had 126
new 9 cases, a 2i percenf increase, In some parTs of our sTaTe, our case raTe is
doubling every four days. Moreover, we have communify acquired Transmission in 23
counfies wiTh an increase of 44 communiTy acquired infecfions in 24 hours. We projecT
ThaT roughly 56 percenT of our populafion?25.5 million people?will be infecTed wiTh
The virus over an eighT week period.

This resource will help decompress The healTh care delivery sysTem To allow The Los
Angeles region To ensure ThaT if has The abiIiTy To address criTicaI acufe care needs,
such as hearT aTTacks and sTrokes or vehicle accidenfs, in addiTion To The rapid rise in
9 cases. The popuIaTion densiTy in The Los Angeles Region is similar To New York
CiTy, will be disproporTionaTely impacfed by The number of 9 cases.

I would ask ThaT The US Navy coordinafe wiTh my Office of Emergency Services, Through
The Defense CoordinaTor Officer To rapidly deploy This asseT.

you foryour parT ership and look forward To our confinue dis ussion.

 

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 - (916 445-2841

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