Virus pandemic. Well bring you the News Conference as soon as it gets underway live. We know there are 10,000 cases here in california. More than 2700 of those cases are right here in the pay area. Los angeles county is the hardesthit in our state followed by santa clara county. New unemployment i numbers are breaking records for the second week in a row. According to a new ap poll, half of working americans say they or a household member have lost income due to the current pandemic. The president also and some members of congress now considering another nick relief bill. Others as a cow that needs to be milked. Not enough people see Free Enterprise for what it actually s. A healthy horse pulling a rds today, and i couldnt at this moment particularly with the National Headlines and 6. 6 million americans filing for Unemployment Insurance. With the headlines that we have seen as a trend line for the last few weeks. March 12th of this year, we started to see applications for Unemployment Insurance here in the state of california skyrocket. Now, over 1. 9 million californians alone since march 12th have filed for Unemployment Insurance. We have averaged 111,000 Unemployment Insurance claimings on a daily basis in this state over just the last seven dayings. The check consequences are mr. Prove found, and i want to speak to those issues today. Not only from the individuals perspective as it relates to Unemployment Insurance claims, the issue of the impact on mainstream. The impact on Small Businesses. 49 of state employees or rather 49 of all private sector employees in the state of california are employed by Small Businesses, people that make a go of it, put everything on the line, take risks in ways large and small. And we think about Small Businesses, it is not somebody with run hundreds of employees. In many cases, it is not someone with any employees. Selfemployed individuals. Independent contractors, businesses that have one or two parttime employees, and so often we take them for granted even in the best of times. Right now, they have been devastated. And i want to speak specifically about what the state of california is proposing to do for Small Businesses and i also want to highlight what the federal government has done to help Small Businesses because we will not be the beneficiary of that help unless we are aware of what it is exactly that is being provided and how we can access those supports. So let me again with what the state is now announcing, and advancing as it relates to supporting Small Businesses. Every Small Business man or woman knows exactly what i am referencing when it comes to the issue of sales tax. We collect your salestax as a Small Business. We send it to the state to distribute it back down to the cities and counties. The customer pays a sales tax. We hold that into an account and every quarter, we fill out forms, Small Business men and women, and former Small Business i am a former Small Business man, so i know a thing or two about this. And we send that money to the state. What we are calling for today is a oneyear reprieve for Small Businesses where no fines, no penalties will be attached, where they can take upwards of 50,000 as a loan and not have to pay the state those sales tax receipts for 12 months. In essence, it is a bridge loan. The money that you have already collected, you will not have to pay the state for 12 months. No penalties. No interest. Decfacto a loan. I had previously signed an executive order extending for a number of months through july 31s the need to even file your sales tax. This extends beyond that as a reprieve so that upwards of 50,000 can be used as a bridge over the course of the next 12 months. When i call it bridge hone in this cob text, because we need to be able to get the federal dollars into the state of california which means we need to get people to amy for these federal supports that were recently announced. Both in the in the more recent that just passed. The 2. 2 trillion. There are two programs in particular i want to highlight. An incredibly important for Small Businessmen and women to take advantage of. Number one was the disaster injury. It is the Small Business loan related to injuryrelated to the economic consequences of covid19 p. You can get a 10,000 loan upfront as your application is being processed. You are presumed eligible for the dollars in that loan account. That loan provides upwards of 2 million for Small Businesses, payback over a 30 year period, and Interest Rates of 3. 75 and for nonprofits in that category. 2. 75 . We want to make sure people are taking advantage of that Economic Injury disaster loan program. We have information on our covid19. Ca. Gov website. It will link you to the sba, link you to the services and supports so that you can take advantage of that program. The other even more Significant Program was just recently passed. That is the 2. 2 trillion act. This provides businesses up to 10 million loans. If you continue to pay your employees. You have to provide 75 of all of that loan benefit to your employees, to payroll. This can be done through your bank, through traditional institutions, not just through the sba. That is the paycheck protection program, the ppp program that is finally getting some attention. This is a profoundly Significant Program that has 349 billion of federal supports attached to it. This Program Starts tomorrow. And that is why it is incredibly important people start stilling out the application, filling out the form to make sure they are aware of their eligibility. And this is one of those things a lot of people are going to be rushing to get the benefit of this program. Again, april 3rd is the first day to start drawing down those applications. So work with your bank. Work with your lender, and if you commit to keeping your employees, even if you have no business, even if business is closed, but you pay your employees, this is a grant program, not a loan program where you are reimbursed for the costs. Again, the cap is 10 million, not insignificant, but there is a modest well, modest is relative, but a. 5 fee attached to it. Interest rate. Fixed. At. 5 . Above and beyond that, you have the capacity to substantially get all of that loan completely paid l government as a grvery complicated and in many respects, it is. We just want to make it easier for folks. Go to our website. Covid19. Ca. Gov website. We have a link and well link all the information to folks so they can take advantage of these programs. The reality is not everyone can take advantage of these programs. While the spa has Debt Forgiveness programs and they have other programs that one can avail themselves to. Not everybody has the capacity to get an sba loan. As a consequence of that, we are announcing the state of california is putting 50 million into our ibank, our Infrastructure Bank to create microlending opportunities for people that otherwise would not be eligible for sbarelief, the paycheck protection act and these other disaster emergency injury disaster programs. And so it is an additional contribution for this state to address those that may otherwise fall through the crack. So that is an of all sense of what we are trying to do to highlight those federal supports, advance some state relief through sales tax. Up to 50,000 for a year with no interest, no penalties, and then provide microlending opportunities through our ibank and the state of california. And we are encouraging businesses large and small again up to hundreds and hundreds of moes. They are eligible for the status of these benefits. To do just that. And get prepared because tomorrow, again, and that paycheck protection program, those applications will start being processed and so lets get ahead of it. And lets make sure if you know someone who is a Small Business person, make them aware of this. And if you are business person, lets make sure you get this paper work done and get those applications in as quickly as possible. Something else we are announcing today. I am very proud. I met with a small group of people in fresno, california about a year ago. An Organization Called bitwise. Remarkable economic story in fresno and in the central valley, one that is not often highlighted in the news. It is not just an agricultural community. It is a vibrant community with remarkable human capitol. Young people. People young at heart doing incredible things. A Good Entrepreneurial spirit and a Technical Expertise that is very prepresent in the central valley. Bitwise is the center of this. Bitwise has partnered with linked in and sales force to create a new site called onwardca. Gorg. And that is about getting us back up on our feet. Not just Small Businesses, now, people that have been layed off or need a job. Bitwise has already created a remarkable website to match open jobs to individuals and their particular skillset. They actually prompt 37 questions to specify where you are geographically. What your exact skillset is, what your wage preference may look like, and then they match you with open job lets listings throughout the state of california. Already 70,000 open jobs are now listed on their site. Well probably have 100plus thousand just in the next number of days. They have prioritized four areas that disproportionately are hiring remarkably at this moment. Not surprisingly healthcare being one of those four areas. Agriculture is looking for workforce. Logistics broadly defined being that transportation, warehousing and the light that the logistic sector is in need of work. And of course, grocers. 70plus thousand open jobs in the state of california. Go to the bitwise new site. It is onwardca. Org site and fill out those applications and see if we can patch you with a job just down the road and make sure we get you off unmoment insurance or if you havent gone on, make sure you dont have to go on so we can get you in the workforce. I want to thank our partners in putting together this job listing website. We also have very pleased about the work that is being done, the heroic work. By some estimates, i mentioned one march 12th. Not surprising, that is unprecedented and it is overwhelming the call volume at our department. We refer to as. That is our state department. That is responsible for processing applications for unmoment ensureness. They had a 21day turn around in those unemployment checks in the good days. We are struggling to deep up with that. We are still confident we can do that. We have reorganized our staffing. 200 additional folks to deal with a surge of demand. We have 800 other folks that are now ready to increase beyond the surge of support. Checks are from the low of 40 dollars to as high as 450 a week for Unemployment Insurance. And in addition to that, people are eligible you for at least the next four month with an additional 600 on top of the 400 to 450 per week because of the federal stimulus. And so those that may not have availed themselves in the Unemployment Insurance, please do so. Again, easiest side is the covid19. Cag. Gov site. Will process these and we are doing everything we can to make sure we do so in a timely manner because we recognize people are feeling deephang sigh anxiety about paying for basic necessities and food and rent and the like and childcare for so many, eds. So that is it in Broad Strokes where we are leaning in to this economic moment. I should just preview i have an Economic Development team focusing on how we can get this state back on its feet sooner than later, and what that looks like from an economic stimulus perspective. Some of the best and the brightest from across the country now advising the state of california. Our department of finance, our go biz which is our Economic Development team and advising us which sectors that we should focus on and hooking at our regulatory system and looking at ways we can stimulate real growth and real time. But when we turn the corner on this virus and so i want folks to know that we are taking this very, very seriously, but we have to deal with the immediate hi helping individuals that are Unemployment Insurance claims. I want to make a few additional points and open up to any questions we may have to make this point. It was just a few days ago that i announced 25,000 people filled out applications. Fully botanists, and emts, paramedics, nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, et cetera, to help support their loved ones, their community, their state, and our Healthcare Delivery system by saying you know what . I may have just retired but i am happy to go back to work as part of this health corp site we put up the. Today, we have over 70,000 applications. It is just extraordinary. The most difficult for us is going to be triaging all of these applications. It just gives you a sense of this civic moment and how people are doing this extraordinary amount to try to anticipate in meeting it head on. I just want to compliment all of do you that told folks about this website and they have filled out an application and we are going to do our best to get back to yu. Were going to try to match yu up geographically based up aexer teas and work through some details. Just know we are going to respond as quickly as we can. And in terms of response, let me just continue to make this point. I really want to thank all of you for plaque at this timing, not just sitting there promoting or teachi of millions of californians that allow me to say the following. The number of positives are growing. The number of deaths, 203, have grown. But the icu numbers in the the hospitallyization numbers while they are growing, they are not growing as significantly as you are seeing in other parts of the country. Were not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, and we showed folks what we mean by that when we showed you our modeling yesterday. The reality is that we are buying time. For every individual that is in the icu, my heart goes out to them. That is 816 individuals that are currently in the icu representing a 5. 4 increase from yesterday. 1922 people are in our Hospital System with covid19 that are positively identified. Those are big numbers, but well within our modeling and well within our capacity to serve and meet this moment. It is the physical distancing that people are doing. It is taking this moment seriously that is allowing me to make that statement, that we have the capacity currently to meet the moment. We still need to do more on personal protective gear. The n95 masks. I could tell you i could write a book about how that is unfolding realtime. I know a lot of attention has been placed on that and most of what you are hearing is true in terms of it being the wild wild west, in terms of procuring the masks, shields, glove sets and the like. Currently in california. We have already distributed 35. 9 million. While we have gotten 1 million. Apparently we are going to get another 17 ever thousand masks. We were just told that this morning. People on the frontlines broadly defined we recognize our obligation to you to continue to find this personal protective gear and to do more not just to source n95 masks, but surgical masks and the gowns and the coveralls that all of you do deserve. Our Hospital System was slack, not just surge. Every day we are bringing on more beds. Every day we are building capacity, and every day i continue to be miss me rised by the incredible leadership within our Hospital System, our assisted living facilities, our Skilled Nursing homes, where they are anticipating the need to do more and better and providing more points of access and more space as they reconstitute and repurpose existing space in order to prepare for our peak in the next number of weeks. Every hour, every day, we must take advantage of keeping this curve at a modest trajectory so we dont experience what other parts of our country and other parts of the globe have. Every day, none of us will regret doing our part to do more to bend that curve. Final point i to make and completely emmoment even beyond just the health corp site. I want to thank all the countless volunteers through our cal Volunteers Program that have gone to their site to contribute their time and energy at our food banks. Over 2 million meals have been delivered just in the last few weeks just at our food bank. It is an unprecedented surge of need. To all the folks that reached out a few days ago when we asked you to make five calls to connect with your neighbors and seniors, thank you. Weir seeing that on social media, in terms of partnership with nextdoor. Were seeing that with the work that is being done in alzheimers and others, aarp that are helping amplify that sense of community. The commonwellth. All throughout the state of california. And i just cant impress upon you, lets keep doing more of that. Lets stick together and lets be defined by our capacity to seize this moment as so many other you are seizing every single day to do the right thing including making sure that we