SACRAMENTO (US) – With coronavirus patients straining hospitals across California, the most populous state in the US, two of its most thickly populated regions and its breadbasket will be placed under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night, said officials.
The order will kick in when intensive care units in any of the five regions have little remaining capacity. It will affect Southern California and San Joaquin Valley, closing bars, hair salons and barbershops. Restaurants will be allowed to function only for takeout and delivery service.
The order will kick in at 11:59 pm and it was announced on Wednesday by Governor Gavin Newsom, who is a Democrat.
The same night, San Francisco Bay Area will also go into lockdown as per another set of orders announced on Friday.
“We know that people are tired of the stringent measures, but they are the only weapons we have to combat the virus,” said Dr Maggie Park, public health officer in San Joaquin County, the farming region of the state which has been hit hard.
On Friday, more than 25,000 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed, said officials on Saturday. It is a record since the pandemic broke out. There were also 209 fatalities and this brings the tally to 19,791.
Whenever a region has less than 15% capacity in California, the orders will come into force. It allows critical infrastructure to stay open, including schools that have the permission to hold classes. Dental offices have also been allowed to function.
The orders in California have been flayed by some Republican politicians who said that closing small businesses and ordering people to remain indoors will do more harm than good.
Critics also flayed the decisions by several Democratic leaders, including Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who dined in a luxury Napa Valley restaurant, which was legally open, at a time when infections are surging and officials were urging people not to socialise over the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Government lockdowns do not reduce cases or stop spikes,” said Republican State Assemblyman James Gallagher in a statement.