leeann melendez is live with what's being done about it. >> reporter: right now at san quinten, they are testing prisoners and getting immediate results in realtime. that's why the governor gave a specific number today at noon and within a few hours, there were more cases. so they are constantly updating those numbers. we are finding out more about that 71-year-old death row inmate who was found dead in his cell last wednesday. according to the marin county coroner's office, the examination of the body showed he tested positive for covid-19. the baseball field at san quinten has been turned into a triage because of the covid-19 outbreak. since the governor spoke this morning, the number of inmate cases has gone up by 19, to 1,030. what's concerning is how quickly that number increased. 987 new cases in the past 14 days alone. >> we have formalized strategies and plans, including the protect of suiting seton hospital if we have to transfer many, many patients. >> reporter: several months ago, 3500 low-level offenders throughout the prison system wre released. the governor said prisone

leeann melendez joins us now about the governor's concerns. >> reporter: the concern is that people are going to hear this and think now we can let our guard down and the governor made it clear today that the reason we are stable is because we have continued to be vigilant. california remains stable as it pertains to the spread of the coronavirus. today, only 4.5% of those tested are positive. the rate of stability is measured over a 14-day period. >> we look at hospitalization rates. and they remain stable. icu rates, the blue line is below the hospitalization, remain stable. >> reporter: even after the may 8th gradual reopening of low-risk workplaces and the memorial day weekend activities that brought more people together, the governor said the slight increase in new cases has not alarmed health officials. right now, california has a little more than 3,000 identified cases of covid-19, and has nearly 53,000 so-called surge beds for potential patients. >> if the numbers and hospitalizations go up, the question is can we absorb that? the answer today at least is yes. >> reporter: still

leeann melendez joins us now. >> reporter: larry, we have some contributing factors here, right? avaibl not are higher.s but the governor is concerned that this trend will continue, so today he got a little help from a few friends to spread the word about using masks. governor newsom tapped former california governors, two democrats and two republicans, to help urge people to wear a mask. >> look, nobody wants to wear these things. >> this is not about being weak. >> it's about fighting the disease and keeping our families and ourselves safe. >> and it's about getting californians back to work. >> reporter: even with a mandate throughout california to wear cases went up. 46,000 in the past 14 days. the governor acknowledged the higher numbers are due in part to more testing. 92,000 tests were done just yesterday alone in california. >> accordingly, we're starting to see an increase in hospitalizations. a week ago, we saw modest increase. but this week, we have experienced an increase that, when you stretch it out over a 14-day ban, it has gone up by roughly 16%. >> reporter: the