SACRAMENTO, California (AP) – California suspended regional requests for home stays across the state on Monday in response to improved coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a county-by-county restriction system, officials announced. state health services.
The order was in effect in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, covering most of the state’s counties.
The move will allow companies like restaurants to resume outdoor operations in many areas, although local authorities may choose to maintain stricter rules. The state is also suspending the curfew from 10 pm to 5 am.
“Together, we changed our activities knowing that our short-term sacrifices would lead to long-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and is still deadly, so our work is not over, but it is important to recognize that our collective actions have saved lives and we are turning a critical corner, ”said Dr. Tomas Aragon, state public health director, in a statement.
Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to address the public on Monday. Public officials in major California cities have indicated that they will soon be able to lift local restrictions.
“We will be moving forward with some limited reopenings, including outdoor dining and personal services,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed in a tweet.
In Los Angeles County, where 10 million people live, Republican supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed support for opening more companies and said the state must balance public health with “the devastating social, emotional and economic impacts of this virus” .
“I support following the guidelines recommended by the governor for southern California and reopening open-air restaurants, personal care services and other industries that were previously closed under these orders,” she said.
The decision came amid trends of improvement in the rate of infections, hospitalizations and capacity of intensive care units in the state as well as vaccinations.
Newsom, a Democrat, imposed the order to stay at home in December, when coronavirus cases worsened.
According to the system, a region with multiple counties had to close most businesses and order people to stay at home if the ICU’s capacity dropped to less than 15%. A region of 11 counties in Northern California has never been under order and the Greater Sacramento region came out of order last week. The state makes its decisions based on four-week projections showing improved ICU capacity, but officials have not released the data. behind the predictions.
Over the weekend, the ICU capacity in the San Francisco Bay area increased to 23%, while the agricultural region of the San Joaquin Valley increased to 1.3%, its first time above zero. The huge southern California region, the most populous, remains at zero ICU capacity.
Early last year, the state developed a system of color-coded levels that dictated the level of restrictions for businesses and individuals based on virus conditions in each of California’s 58 counties.
Most counties will now return to the more restrictive purple layer, which allows for open-air dinners, hairdressers and open manicures and outdoor religious services. Bars that serve only drinks cannot be opened.
The county-by-county level system uses various metrics to determine the risk of transmission from the community and apply a color code – purple, red, orange or yellow – that corresponds to diffused, substantial, moderate and minimal, respectively.
Over the weekend, California had more than 3.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 36,790 deaths, according to the state’s public health website.
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Antczak reported from Los Angeles.