Good Morning.
Home stay requests for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley were theoretically eligible to expire on Monday, but in a grim post-Christmas reality check, Governor Gavin Newsom said it was “evident” that the restrictions should be extended.
“Things, unfortunately, are going to get worse before they get better,” the governor said at a news conference on Monday.
[Track coronavirus cases, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, by county in California.]
Hospitals – already overburdened in much of the state – must prepare for what experts have projected to be a “sudden increase over another sudden increase, possibly over another sudden increase”, due to the holiday, Newsom said.
And the state sent a team to Los Angeles County to help deal with the flow of patients, which caused people to be rejected in emergency rooms at alarming rates over the weekend.
“Routine care in the emergency room is being delayed,” said Newsom. “The impact of this pandemic is being felt across the hospital system and can affect each of us – God forbid.”
California has in recent weeks become the epicenter of the pandemic, with more than two million confirmed cases of the virus and 24,331 deaths, according to a New York Times database.
Intensive care units have been at or near full capacity for weeks in Southern California and the Central Valley. Doctors and nurses were forced to treat patients in lobbies and corridors. Tents were erected to serve as waiting rooms and, in some cases, as field hospitals.
And even though most health care providers have not formally started rationing care, experts say that full hospitals are likely to result in fewer people looking for the care they need, which is probably already causing more deaths.
[See how full intensive care units are at hospitals near you.]
The current wave of infections in the state, the most populous in the country, started to escalate before Thanksgiving. As the number of cases continued to skyrocket earlier this month, state leaders announced a plan for regional home stay requests linked to the intensive care unit’s capacity.
The restrictions, officials said at the time, could expire in three weeks, provided that intensive care units have 15% of their available capacity. The idea that trends would reverse – or at least stabilize – in that period seemed optimistic, but theoretically possible.
But capacity in the Southern California region, which includes Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, fell below the 15 percent limit to trigger restrictions almost immediately. The same was true of capacity in the San Joaquin Valley, which was particularly affected during the pandemic.
Now, about 98% of Californians live under restrictions, which prohibit meetings of people from different families and require that restaurants serve only for travel.
Newsom said the state is likely to make official the extension of requests today.
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Here are a few more things to know:
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The governor said California expects to have received just over two million doses of vaccine by the end of the year. But at the end of the week, the state expects to have received only 1.76 million doses. Still, Newsom said the effort was monumental.
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As of Monday, nursing home residents should start receiving doses of the Pfizer vaccine managed by CVS and Walgreens through a federal partnership, Newsom announced. Los Angeles County chose to leave, however, as The Wall Street Journal recently reported.
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Mr Newsom said the plan for the the next phase of distribution of the vaccine would likely be completed in the next few days. After health professionals and nursing home residents, the expected guidelines would prioritize people aged 75 and over, as well as education and daycare workers, emergency service workers and grocery workers and other workers in the food supply chain.
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As cases in Los Angeles reach crisis levels, public health officials are demanding anyone who has traveled outside of Los Angeles County and recently returned to quarantine for 10 days.
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It rained in Southern California
On Sunday night, Southern California had its first real storm in months. Lightning flashed. The thunder clapped. Angelenos (like me) were pulled out of their deep sleep by the sound of torrential rain. Many people felt compelled tweet about it.
On Monday, there was hail. According to the Los Angeles National Weather Service, some mountainous areas have received about a foot of snow.
Although time warned of debris flows, light floods and bad direction, the news was generally met with joy. Rain, of course, decreases the risk of fire and helps to stimulate the growth of plants in places that have burned.
Tuesday was marked for the sun.
California Today airs at 6:30 am Pacific time during the week. Tell us what you want to see: [email protected]. Have you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here and read all online editions here.
Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from UC Berkeley and has done reporting across the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles – but she always wants to see more. Follow here or Twitter.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley.