Coronavirus In California: Governor Announces Statewide Stay-At-Home Order
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay at home order for all of California, directing the state's 40-million-person population to stay inside.
Approximately 21 million Californians had already been living under local stay at home orders, that announced by cities and counties. The California clampdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus is now in place for the most populated state in the country, indefinitely.
"We need to do more to meet this moment," Governor Newsom said. "People will self-regulate their behavior, they'll begin to adjust and adapt as they have been quite significantly. We will have social pressure that will encourage people to do the right thing, just a nod and look saying maybe you should reconsider."
The Governor announced the drastic move by a remote press conference, with his officers standing six feet away from each other and reporters watching on a video link — all signs of California's social distancing policy at work.
The move followed Governor Newsom's published letter to President Trump reading, "without more drastic action, models compiled with the help of the CDC show 56 percent of the state could be infected with the virus in an eight week period."
"An overwhelming majority of us won't have symptoms," Newsom said. "We will be perfectly fine. But there is a subset that we're concerned about."
The Governor is requesting that the President send the Navy's hospital ship Mercy to dock off the California coast to help increase the state's supply of hospital beds.
Dr. Dean Blumberg is Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Children's Hospital. He's hopeful the drastic measures ordered by the governor will work.
"The empty streets, the closures, the people at home, this is really quite dramatic, and I'm really hopeful this limited social interaction that we're having, really can ease the spread of the virus," Blumberg said.
California's bold moves to stop the spread of the coronavirus just went one big step further.
"We are confident that the people of the state of California will abide by it," Newsom said. "They'll do the right thing. They'll meet this moment."
READ ALSO: What Is Still Open During California's Shelter In Place?
The shelter in place order allows residents to leave their homes only to perform "essential tasks" such as:
- Engaging in activities or perform tasks essential to health and safety, or to the health and safety of their family or household members, such as, obtaining medical supplies or medication, visiting a health care professional, or obtaining supplies they need to work from home.
- Obtaining necessary services or supplies for themselves and their family or household members, or to deliver those services or supplies to others, such as food and other grocery and cleaning products.
- Engaging in outdoor activity, provided the individuals comply with Social Distancing Requirements as defined, such as walking, hiking, biking, running or equestrian activities.
- Performing work to provide essential products and services at essential businesses and government entities as well as other nonprofit organizations.
- Caring for a family member or pet in another household.
- Attending private gatherings of not more than six nonrelatives in a home or place of residence. Social distancing should be practiced at all times at such gatherings.
