California’s Thursday plan for managing Covid was outlined. The plan is designed to prevent future outbreaks of Covid and other variants. Public health measures, such as facemasks or other public health measures may be required depending on how severe the virus disrupts economic and/or social activities.

California Health Secretary Mark Ghaly stated that state response depends on whether the predominant Covid strain is present at all times, how severe the variant causes, and how many patients are being hospitalized.

Ghaly didn’t provide any specific triggers for the imposition public health precautions. California may need to be more vigilant about infection rates for the most deadly form, but California should also pay attention to hospitalizations numbers for the less dangerous variant.

Ghaly indicated that California is likely to experience Covid surges in fall and winter. California’s health secretary said the state would closely examine whether these surges were caused by unfamiliar strains or newer variants. According to the health secretary, masks will be used if the Covid strain is disrupting hospitals or businesses.

Ghaly explained that “there may have to be a moment when we all need to wear masks to navigate certain situations so we don’t overburden our healthcare delivery system, or cripple businesses.”

California will be able to provide Covid testing and vaccines for at least 500k people daily. It also plans to increase the number of health care workers by up to 3,000 in a matter of weeks. According to Ghaly, the state will have 75 million masks and thousands of ventilators in stock, as well as procure 30 million more over-the counter Covid tests.

Ghaly stated that California will be focusing on providing information to people about their vaccinations. This includes children and elderly who are not yet eligible, as well as those with compromised immune systems.

California’s universal indoor mask requirement was canceled Tuesday due to the subsidence of the omicron waves in California. Even though they no longer have to wear indoor masks, those with vaccinated status are still encouraged to. Those who have not been vaccinated are required to still wear masks indoors, such as in shops, restaurants, and theatres.

California still has a school mask mandate. Ghaly earlier said that the state’s health officials would assess how the California pandemic is progressing at the end-of-the month. Then, they will provide a timeline for when the mandate to schools will change to a recommendation.

California’s average daily number of Covid cases is 13,800 per day for seven days, which was 61% lower than last week, according Johns Hopkins University data. On Jan. 16, the average state case reached more than 123,000 cases per day, which was a record high for a pandemic.

A seven-day average of data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday shows that California has nearly 8500 Covid patients. It’s 22% less than the previous week and just half what peak omicron levels were in February. January 14th, 2021 was the date that more than 23600 Covid patients were hospitalized in the state’s pandemic highest.

— CNBC’s Nate RattnerContributed to the report.