Most of California to Be Homebound for the Holiday Season
Much of California to Be Homebound for Holidays as Virus Worsens
(Bloomberg) --
Two-thirds of California will be stuck at home this holiday season.
With another day of record coronavirus cases and available intensive-care unit beds falling to a new low, the Golden State has slapped new stay-at-home orders on an area encompassing about 70% of its population.
The ICU capacity in two regions -- the relatively rural San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, which includes Los Angeles and San Diego -- has fallen below the state’s 15% threshold, prompting the new measures. In San Joaquin Valley, which includes Fresno, fewer than one in 10 ICU beds are available, while capacity has dropped to 12.5% in Southern California, the state’s health department said Saturday.
California added a record 30,075 cases Sunday, almost twice the 14-day average of 17,119, also a new high. More tests are also indicating a rise in infections, with the 8.1% test positivity at one of the highest levels since the April peak. With more patients, the availability of intensive-care unit beds have also reached the lowest since the start of the pandemic.
The order will include shutting businesses ranging from bars and wineries, to hair salons and other personal-care services. Additional modifications will be made to restaurants, retailers and hotels. The curbs will start late Sunday night and will remain in effect for at least three weeks, They will only be lifted on Dec. 28 if areas meet the ICU threshold and other metrics.
“As case numbers continue to rise in California, the total number of individuals who will have serious outcomes will also increase,” the health department said.
Los Angeles County, with the nation’s highest death toll and case count from coronavirus, already imposed stay-at-home orders a week ago and will modify its curbs in line with the latest state order. The county’s health department reported a fourth straight day of record new cases Sunday and warned of a health-care crisis for the area of 10 million people.
With almost 49,000 people testing positive this week, the county anticipates 5,000 will be eventually hospitalized as symptoms develop. As many as 1,000 will probably need intensive care, putting further strain on medical facilities.
“This is our likely reality in two weeks,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, said Saturday. If residents aren’t able to “get behind” the directives, she said, “we are likely to bear witness to one of the worst health-care crises our county has seen in our lifetime.”
Moving ahead of the state’s threshold for these new rules, the San Francisco Bay area imposed an even longer stay-at-home period Friday to prevent hospitals from becoming overrun by cases. Residents in San Francisco, Oakland and much of Silicon Valley will be stuck at home through the New Year, with curbs ending only on Jan. 4.
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