Stay-at-home order will be imposed in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley
By ALEX WIGGLESWORTH, RONG-GONG LIN II, THOMAS CURWENDEC. 5, 202010:46 AM UPDATED6:15 PM
A stay-at-home order will go into effect in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley late Sunday, as COVID-19 cases soar and capacity at hospital intensive care units continues to drop.
The regions will implement the order Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Bars, wineries and personal-care services must close; restaurants must halt all dining; and gatherings of people from different households will be prohibited, the state confirmed. The rules will remain in place for at least three weeks.
The order — the latest in a series of attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus and prevent local healthcare systems from becoming overwhelmed — is triggered when a region’s ICU capacity drops below 15%. Southern California’s ICU capacity Saturday was 12.5%, and the San Joaquin Valley’s was 8.6%, according to data released by the state.
Some 33 million Californians will be subject to the new order, representing 84% of the state’s population. They include residents of five Bay Area counties, which have decided to implement the stay-at-home order despite not yet reaching the threshold mandated by the state. ADVERTISING
The order will be felt across Southern California but most dramatically in suburban counties like Orange, Ventura and Riverside, which have far less stringent restrictions than Los Angeles County, which imposed a modified stay-at-home order a week ago.
In addition to Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside, the Southern California counties affected by the order are Imperial, Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The San Joaquin Valley region covers Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne counties.
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Affected communities will be required to close hair and nail salons, playgrounds, zoos, museums, aquariums and wineries. Overnight, short-term stays at campgrounds will be prohibited. Restaurants will be allowed to offer takeout service only.
Retail businesses will be limited to 20% customer capacity indoors, and stores will be required to ensure that there is no indoor eating or drinking.
Card rooms will be required to shut down, and hotels won’t be allowed to accept tourists.
Entertainment productions and professional sports will continue to be allowed, without live audiences. The exception is Santa Clara County, which on Monday enacted a ban on contact sports, forcing the San Francisco 49ers to temporarily relocate to Arizona for December games.
