NEWS: California Imposes Regional Stay-At-Home Orders Based on ICU Availability

As COVID-19 cases surge in California, hospital availability has become a concern once again.

Governor Gavin Newsom ©California

This morning, we reported that the City of Los Angeles has filed an identical safer-at-home order to Los Angeles County in an effort to lessen the load on hospitals. Now, California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a conditional regional stay-at-home order for the state.

In a press conference today, Newsom announced that, in order to bend the curve and protect ICU capacities, a regional stay-at-home order will be imposed for any region where ICU capacity falls below 15%.

©State of California

The state is divided into five regions — the Bay Area, Southern California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Northern California. Disneyland Resort is located in Southern California which is projected to fall below 15% ICU capacity in early December.

When a stay-at-home order is imposed on a region, it will have 48 hours to impose the order and will remain under lockdown for three weeks minimum.

©State of California

The stay at home order would severely limit nonessential activities. Bars, wineries, personal services, and more will close. Retail will be permitted to remain open at 20% capacity and restaurants will be allowed to remain open for takeout and delivery only.

©State of California

The stay-at-home order isn’t the only precaution either. Newsom has also imposed a restriction on non-essential travel statewide. In addition, residents are asked to stop gathering outside of the household, keep activities outside, and wear a mask.

Newsom also delivered an update on the COVID-19 vaccine saying that this is a temporary state as vaccines will begin arriving in California in the next few weeks with more and more coming at the beginning of 2021. They expect to receive the first doses of vaccine from December 12th through 15th.