California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks in front of the hospital ship US Naval Ship Mercy. | AP Photo | Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool California sends 500 ventilators back to national stockpile

OAKLAND — California is loaning 500 ventilators to states like New York where the coronavirus is exacting a deeper toll, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

The act of generosity completes a bi-coastal aid package after both Washington and Oregon lent medical supplies to New York, which is battling the nation's worst outbreak. Ventilators from California will flow into the Strategic National Stockpile. Oregon announced Saturday it was sending 140 ventilators to New York, while Washington said Sunday it was returning more than 400 of the machines.


"In times of crisis, it’s more important than ever we are the UNITED States of America," Newsom said Monday morning on Twitter. "CA is answering the call for Americans in NY and across the country, loaning 500 state-owned ventilators to those in need. I know, if the tables were turned, other states would be there for us."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo thanked his West Coast counterparts on Monday, noting that New York is “beyond capacity” and has already fallen back to “plan B, C, D” to locate enough equipment

“That is the right attitude,” Cuomo said. “That’s the only way we do this as a nation — we’re going to have to be flexible and handle the surge as it moves across the country.”

In later remarks Monday, Newsom said California was in position to assist other states in part because hospitals had made strides in obtaining more equipment. California hospitals have increased their collection from around 7,500 machines to more than 11,000 in the last few weeks, Newsom said.

“That has put less strain and pressure on the state’s effort to procure additional ventilators,” Newsom said.

Some California health officials have gained more confidence in recent days that the state's infection curve is flattening, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, which took the nation's earliest shelter-in-place actions.

Newsom echoed that hopeful note Monday, saying hospitals were on pace to provide more additional beds than initially thought and that Californians "by definition are bending the curve" by hewing to a stay-at-home order.

While Newsom said those efforts allowed California to meet its "moral and ethical responsibility of providing resources in real-time to those most in need,” he cautioned that his own state is equipping for a surge anticipated to climax in the coming weeks and is still “going full-force around the world” to supply the health care system with more equipment.

“If we need them back in a few weeks, we’ll get them back," Newsom said of the 500 ventilators. "These were lent. They were not given."

Conversely, Cuomo suggested New York could return the favor once it again finds its footing.

“As soon as we get through this and we have any flexibility in our system, we will be there for every other state like they have been for us,” he said.