More than 33 million people in California will wake up Monday to new orders from the government not to leave their homes for at least the next three weeks except for essential purposes, forcing restaurants to offer take-out only while limiting retailers to 20% capacity as a surge of new coronavirus cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
The new rules took effect just before midnight for Southern California and a large swath of the Central Valley, triggered after more than 85% of beds in intensive care units were occupied in those regions.
Five San Francisco Bay Area counties voluntarily joined the rules, saying they didn’t want to wait until their capacity dropped too low to take action. Those restrictions will last until Jan. 4, a week longer than the state’s timeline.
The rules apply to more than 80% of the state’s population, and they took effect one day after California announced more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases — the most ever in a single day. The state reported more than 9,700 people were in the hospital because of COVID-19, including more than 2,200 in intensive care. The state had just over 1,500 ICU beds available as of Sunday.
Coronavirus live updates: Fauci says moves to reopen ‘inexplicable’ as U.S. case numbers plateau – The Washington Post
With newly reported coronavirus cases stalling at high levels after weeks of decline, and fewer Americans getting tested, health experts warned that pandemic fatigue in the United States could jeopardize recent progress against the virus. Despite the warnings, some states with still-growing outbreaks, such as Texas and Mississippi, have relaxed restrictions. “I don’t know why …Read more