Coronavirus updates California

 About 85 percent of California's population will soon face new restrictions as part of the state's latest crackdown on epidemics.

The corona virus is spreading in California. There have been more than 68,000 new cases in the past week, and about 350 more deaths. In the hope of reducing the increase, Government Gavin Newsom has ordered most people to stay home from 10 a.m. Saturday. Until 5 p.m.

Newsom issued the order on Thursday, exempting essential workers and activities.

Residents of Southern California and San Joaquin Valley will be staying at home starting at 11:59 a.m. Sunday, beginning with the Christmas holidays. The order would mean severe new restrictions for many businesses and a ban on gathering outside your home in two regions of the state with a total population of about 27 million. The order will take effect for at least three weeks.

"We are at a critical juncture in our fight against the virus, and we need to take decisive action in the coming weeks to prevent the California hospital system from being overwhelmed," the governor said before Saturday's announcement. "We can flatten the curve as we have done before and reduce the pressure on our healthcare system.

According to an announcement made by the governor last week, the order was activated after the ICU capacity in both regions fell below the 15% threshold. Gavin Newsroom. In Southern California, the rate fell to 12.5 percent, while in San Joaquin Valley it dropped to 8.6 percent, state health officials announced Saturday.

The order has led to a dramatic change in California, which for several months has managed to avoid the worst case scenario of the virus compared to the rest of the United States. Much of this success was due to initial action. In March, the state ordered all 39.5 million of its residents to stay at home indefinitely, the broadest directive in the country at the time. The ruling comes at a time when nearly 1,000 confirmed cases and 19 deaths have been reported in California. As of Friday, more than 1.3 million cases and 20,000 deaths had been recorded in the state.

The latest guidance will be felt in almost every aspect of daily life. It asks residents to stay in the house "as much as possible" and to wear a "100% mask" when outdoors. Restaurants will only be open for take-out or pick-up, while hair and nail salons, movie theatres Businesses like bars will be closed, playgrounds, museums and zoos will also be closed.Retailers, including grocery stores, will remain open, but coverage will be limited to 20%. Schools that are currently open will be allowed to continue learning in person. Places of worship will also be allowed to remain open, but only for outdoor services.

"Staying at home for three weeks is a sacrifice," said Dr. Erica Payne, the state's acting public health officer, when the sanctions were announced. Can stop in their tracks. "The Public Health Order maintains a balance between saving lives, providing essential services that we all rely on, and still allows California to participate in low-risk outdoor activities that improve our physical and mental health." Is very important.

"We must do everything necessary to control the virus," San Francisco Mayor London Brad said Friday. "It's about protecting people's lives. We see how fast it moves and how devastating the effects are. We do our best to save our hospital system from being overwhelmed and save lives." need to."

The increase in the number of cases that killed California now reflects a rift in the rest of the country. On Saturday, 213,875 new cases and more than 2,200 deaths were recorded in the United States, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. There were more than 101,000 Americans in the hospital, and a fifth of those patients were in the ICU.

However, some areas were not waiting for ICU capacity to fall below the state threshold. Los Angeles County adopted a stop-at-home order late last month, and on Friday, health officials in five of the 11 counties that formed the Gulf region chose to follow suit. The five counties - Almeida, Contra Costa, Maran, Santa Clara and San Francisco - are home to approximately 5.8 million residents.