Gov. Newsom announces regional stay-at-home order based on ICU capacity

Unlike previous restrictions in California, the new stay-at-home order focuses on five different regions in lieu of counties. The five regions are: Northern California, Greater Sacramento, Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

The new rules would be implemented within 48 hours from when the intensive care unit capacity in a region drops below 15% and will stay in place for three weeks of hitting that level.

So far, none of the regions have triggered the stay-at-home order, though every part of the state is expected to at some point in December.

Newsom said he anticipates four of the five regions to have less than 15% ICU capacity “as early as the next day or two.” The Bay Area is projected to reach that milestone by mid-to-late December, he said

“The bottom line is if we don’t act now, our hospital system will be overwhelmed,” Newsom said.

KEY POINTS

• California will impose a limited stay-at-home order on certain regions of the state if capacity in their ICU units falls below 15%, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
• The three-week order would require bars, wineries, personal services, hair salons and barbershops to temporarily close, he said, while some schools and critical infrastructure would remain open.
• Retail stores could operate at 20% capacity and restaurants would be allowed to offer take-out and delivery, he said.
• The five regions are: Northern California, Greater Sacramento, Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

The order would require bars, wineries, personal services, hair salons and barbershops to temporarily close. Personal services are businesses like nail salons, tattoo parlors and body waxing, according to the state’s website. Schools that meet the state’s health requirements and critical infrastructure would be allowed to remain open, and retail stores could operate at 20% capacity and restaurants would be allowed to offer take-out and delivery, the Democratic governor said.

“This is not a permanent state,” Newsom said. “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Schools in regions where the stay-at-home order is imposed may be able to stay open based on decisions by local governments, Newsom said.

Newsom made the announcement Thursday.

What is unclear, though, is whether residents will stomach even a modified lockdown as willingly as they did in March and April, when California’s swift and sweeping action made it an early national model in the battle against the coronavirus.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Do we have additional capacity in California beyond the ICU rates and capacity numbers published suggest?

1 We are asking do the ICU rates take into consideration if the cases in ICU are from COVID or from other related causes?

We believe they are not but should breakout what part is Covid related and which are not for better clarification.

2. How Does the “New Order” consider that ICU rooms can be added in many areas, ramping up capacity significantly in short order during emergencies?

A hospital room or even floors are designed to be reconfigured into ICU facilities in many medical facilities, we are told, when emergencies arise as standard protocol

3. Is the fact that transfers can be made to balance over capacity as we did in the spring for example moving Imperial County patients to other counties being considered within a region?

Imperial County only has a limited number of hospital beds for all Health Emergencies.

4. Are the ICU capacity rates considering the added capacity that Federal Field Hospitals provide?

Many of those built in California saw little to no patients.

RIVERSIDE, Calif – “We are set and ready if the governor calls for it,” says Riverside County Health Dept PIO Jose Arballo Jr. He’s talking about hospital overflow sites in the county. One is at the old Sears store building in the city of Riverside, which still has beds and equipment inside from early in the pandemic when it was also named as a possible location for overflow patients.

The other is the county fairgrounds in Indio, where they actually handled patients earlier this year when some regional medical centers were filled to capacity.

Both are being used as COVID-19 testing centers, which could continue even if they are used to deal with patients. At this point, Arballo explains, there has been no talk of closing them, which was good news for the people in long lines, waiting to be tested in Riverside.

New Announcement LA County sheriff: Deputies won’t enforce Newsom’s stay-at-home order Sheriff Villanueva said businesses have been through enough.

County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will not instruct his deputies to enforce a new statewide stay-at-home order announced Thursday that could force businesses to temporarily shut down.

Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order, many businesses and activities would be forced to close for at least three weeks if capacity rates at intensive care units in several regions — the Bay Area, Northern California, the greater Sacramento region, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California — dip below 15%.

The new rules would be implemented within 48 hours of hitting that level.

I want to stay away from business [sic] that are trying to comply, they bent over backwards to modify their operations to conform to these orders and then they have the rug yanked out from under them, that’s a disservice, I don’t want to make them more miserable,” he told Fox affiliate, KTTV-TV, according to a tweet.

Replying to @BillFOXLA

Sheriff Villanueva also tells me he found out about the new stay at home orders from Governor Newsom’s press conference, and there was no coordination with law enforcement beforehand, which he says is concerning when the Governor is expecting enforcement of his orders.

Stay tuned as this is a developing story.