Californians are being urged to stay close to home – and residents of other states to stay out – according to a new travel statement issued in the hope of curbing the violent spread of the coronavirus.
According to the updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health, released Wednesday, Californians should avoid traveling anywhere in the state that is more than 120 miles from their homes, unless this is essential.
Travelers from other states or countries are also “strongly discouraged” from coming to California, except for essential purposes.
The state defines such essential travel as any “associated with the operation, maintenance or use of critical infrastructure or otherwise required or expressly authorized by law … including work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health , immediate medical care and protection and security. ”
Non-essential travel, on the other hand, would be for recreational or tourist purposes.
“Postponing travel and staying at home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19,” the statement said.
The most recent recommendations replace those issued in mid-November and aim to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which continues to be rampant across the country – especially in California.
Cumulative coronavirus infections in California reached 2.5 million on Wednesday, and the number of new cases skyrocketed by more than 1 million in less than a month.
Anyone who enters California from another state or country, warn the authorities, is at risk of bringing the virus, or even new variants of it.
State officials emphasize that anyone visiting or returning to California from outside the state must be quarantined for 10 days after arrival, except “as necessary to meet the critical health needs of the health team or otherwise get involved in emergency response “or if” routinely crosses the borders of a state or country for essential travel, “according to the statement.
Some California counties, including Los Angeles, have also imposed their own mandatory quarantines on long-distance travelers in an effort to slow the spread.
Health officials are already waiting to determine all the consequences of travel and vacation dates – activities that they have long feared could trigger another coronavirus outbreak at a time when California is still adding tens of thousands of new cases every day and hospitals across the state are battling record levels of COVID-19 patients.
All residents “should keep in mind that transmission rates in the community are so high that you risk exposure every time you leave home,” according to LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
“It is better to be alone than sick,” she said earlier this week. “It is better to take care of others following all the rules than to end up passing the virus on to someone who is hospitalized or even dies.”