California enacts coronavirus curfew for majority of state's 40m residents

California is imposing a curfew affecting nearly all of its 40 million residents beginning this weekend, as the state tries to control a surge in coronavirus cases.

The state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced what officials are describing as a limited stay-at-home order on Thursday, saying that all nonessential work and gathering must stop from 10pm to 5am. The order will apply to the 41 counties currently in the most restrictive tier of reopening rules, which accounts for 94% of the state’s 40 million residents.

“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm,” Newsom said in a statement.

The order will last until 21 December, but could be extended if infection rates and disease trends don’t improve.

While the order stipulates nonessential businesses must close by 10pm, restaurants will be permitted to offer takeout food and people can perform some routine activities such as walking dogs, officials said. They will still be able to get medical care, pick up prescriptions and take care of other essential needs.

Officials said overnight movements are more likely to involve social activities that bring increased risk of infection, particularly if people drink and let down their guard on basic safety precautions like wearing masks and staying a safe distance apart.

It follows the state’s more sweeping lockdown in the spring, which ordered all residents to stay at home day and night barring essential work and services.

“We know from our stay-at-home order this spring, which flattened the curve in California, that reducing the movement and mixing of individuals dramatically decreases Covid-19 spread, hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr Mark Ghaly, the California health and human services secretary, said in a statement. “We may need to take more stringent actions if we are unable to flatten the curve quickly. Taking these hard, temporary actions now could help prevent future shutdowns.”

The move comes only days after the state imposed fresh restrictions that limited business operations in those same 41 counties, which have the most significant increases in virus cases. Newsom said at the time he was pulling “the emergency brake” on reopening to relieve pressure on the state’s healthcare system.

A woman walks the beach in Santa Monica. Southern California is seeing a particularly troubling rise in cases.
A woman walks the beach in Santa Monica. Southern California is seeing a particularly troubling rise in cases. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

California recently became the second state, behind Texas, to surpass 1m total cases, while the first week of November saw the state’s fastest rate of increase in cases since the beginning of the crisis. More than 18,500 Californians have died so far.

The situation is especially acute in the Los Angeles area. The county of 10 million residents – the nation’s most populous – has seen daily cases more than double in the last two weeks to nearly 2,900. Hospitalizations have topped 1,100, a rise of 30% in that period.

Robert Garcia, the mayor of Long Beach, said the new order “will save lives and provide relief to our hospitals and healthcare system”, and urged other states to follow California’s lead.

The Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, on Monday urged residents to stay home as much as possible to slow the spread.

“This is a different kind of moment, a new level of danger,” Garcetti said. “If we don’t make these decisions now, there really is only one outcome: we will almost certainly have to shut things down again. And more people will get sick and die.”

The coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of abating across America, which on Wednesday passed the grim milestone of more than 250,000 deaths.

Newsom’s order also comes as the governor himself faces scandal, after it was learned he attended the birthday party of a friend and political adviser held at the French Laundry, one of California’s most upscale and expensive restaurants. Newsom had described the meal as taking place “outdoors”, but leaked photos showed him and his wife sitting maskless around a crowded table inside a room that was enclosed on three sides.

Newsom has apologised, calling the event a “bad mistake”.

Agencies contributed reporting

source: theguardian.com