California Governor Gavin Newsom said today that the California National Guard has been activated to provide extra testing facilities and capacity to local communities in the wake of a rise of Covid cases caused by the Omicron strain.

Over 200 California National Guard members will be deployed across 50 Optum Serve locations throughout the state, providing interim clinical staff while permanent staff is hired, adding capacity for walk-ins, assisting with crowd control, and backfilling for staff absences – all in an effort to conduct more tests. According to the governor's administration, other troops of the Guard will be deployed in similar capacity next week.

Not only are there a paucity of speedy testing in Los Angeles, but there are also a scarcity of appointments for the more reliable PCR tests. With LAUSD and other schools resuming classes next week, the region would be wise to flood the area in the hopes of catching outbreaks early.

While the state has already administered the most tests in its history, the 7-day test positivity rate has continued to rise. With additional testing, test positive tends to decrease. Increased positivity combined with increased testing often suggests that the entire extent of infection is not being captured.

The state's 7-day average test positivity rate has risen 3.6 percent in the last week to 21.7 percent today, an all-time high. That's more than 60% more than the peak of the spike last winter. This means that one out of every five people tested in the state is infected. It also comes on the heels of a day in which the state recorded a whopping 528,039 tests.

“California has led the country’s fight against Covid-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save tens of thousands of lives,” said Newsom. “We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity.”

This new initiative will complement the state's existing 6,000 testing sites and the recent demand-based expansion of hours at state-operated sites.

The announcement comes as Omicron continues to spread swiftly across the region, accounting for at least 80% of Covid cases.

California isn't the only state to raise its defenses against Covid this year. Arkansas, Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Georgia are among the states that have followed suit. The distinction is that the majority of those deployments were to help hospitals expand their capacity. Before its medical system is overwhelmed, California is enlisting the help of the cavalry. However, according to the state's most current ensemble prediction, it may need assistance in its hospitals by February, since Covid-related admissions are likely to exceed the high point of last winter's onslaught.

Newsom recently put in place a slew of measures to combat the outbreak, including vaccine and masking requirements, as well as plans to add the Covid-19 vaccine to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in person once fully approved, requiring masking in schools, and requiring all school staff and state workers to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested and recommeded.