A large health care system in Northern California is going cut payroll due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stanford University's hospital and health care system is asking all 14,000 employees to choose between a 20 percent reduction in pay or taking a furlough that could last as long as ten weeks, using a combination of paid vacation time and state unemployment benefits.

Stanford officials say they're forced to make cuts because of a 40 percent drop in emergency room visits, a loss of revenue from the temporary prohibition Governor Gavin Newsom placed on elective surgeries, and no where near the number of COVID-19 patients that was forecast.

Hospital officials claim patient care and operations will not be affected, but the Service Employees Union disputes that and is considering its options.

Stanford is among several large universities and colleges either returning or halting federal emergency funding from the Paycheck Protection Program that was meant for small businesses and industries hit hardest by the health crisis.