Coronavirus, Covid 19, San Francisco Bay Area, Stay-at-home

Stay-at-home order coming soon in San Francisco Bay Area

Bay Area projected to reach threshold in “mid-late December”

twitter.com/KQED – Governor Newsom announced the details of a sweeping new stay-at-home-order that will come into effect for three weeks in certain California regions when their intensive care unit capacities drop below 15%.  The Bay Area is projected to reach that point in “mid-late December.”

Newsom to impose new stay-at-home orders in California’s hardest-hit areas

San Francisco Chronicle, by Alexei Koseff and Peter Fimrite, Dec. 3, 2020 2:32 p.m.
Two respiratory therapists (no names given) wheel a CPAP machine with a modified viral filter through the emergency department at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif. Friday, May 1, 2020. As ER and ICU doctors gain a better understanding of previously unknown COVID-19 complications, such as blood clots, they are changing the way they care for patients. Doctors are now giving many patients blood thinners in light of emerging evidence that many are developing small and large blood clots that cause strokes. They're also finding that CPAP machines often work better to help patients breathe than ventilators, which were once thought to be a standard course of treatment for patients struggling to breathe.
Two respiratory therapists (no names given) wheel a CPAP machine with a modified viral filter through the emergency department at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif. Friday, May 1, 2020.  Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

SACRAMENTO — Vast swaths of California will fall under new shutdown orders in the coming weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced additional restrictions Thursday to try to slow the surging number of coronavirus cases in areas where intensive care unit capacity is dwindling.

Newsom said he was “pulling the emergency brake” to help California through a third surge of the pandemic this winter, one he hoped would be a final ordeal before a coronavirus vaccine becomes widely available.

“The bottom line is if we don’t act now, our hospital system will be overwhelmed. If we don’t act now, we’ll continue to see a death rate climb, more lives lost,” Newsom said during a news briefing. But, he added, “There is light at the end of this tunnel. We are not in a permanent state.”

The regional orders will close personal care services such as hair and nail salons, playgrounds, bars and wineries, movie theaters, museums and zoos in places where ICU capacity has dropped below 15%.

Retailers, grocery stores and other businesses in those regions that are allowed to remain open will have to operate at 20% capacity, and restaurants will be able to offer only takeout or delivery. No outdoor or indoor dining will be allowed. Schools that have received a waiver to reopen can continue to offer in-person classes.