Governor Gavin Newsom suspended requests for the California regional coronavirus to stay at home on Monday morning – a move that will allow outdoor meals to resume, as well as at least some services in gyms, barbershops and manicure salons, among other businesses.
Counties will return to the color-coded tier system, with most counties returning to the more restrictive ‘purple’ level, including us here in Riverside County.
You can review the ‘purple’ layer restrictions HERE.
Officials from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) made the announcement, suspending the order for all regions of the state, including the three regions that were still under request (San Joaquin Valley, Bay Area and Southern California).
Officials said the four-week ICU capacity projections for these three regions are above 15%, the limit that allows regions to get out of order. The Sacramento region left the order on January 12, and the Northern California region never entered the order.
Level updates are provided weekly on Tuesdays. Each county can still choose to impose stricter rules, if deemed necessary.
“Californians heard the urgent message to stay home as much as possible and accepted the challenge of slowing down the increase and saving lives,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, director of the CDPH and state public health officer. “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 saved lives and we are turning a critical corner. ”
The Los Angeles Times reported on Newsom’s intention to suspend the order on Sunday night, citing “sources informed of the plan by the governor’s office”.
According to the Times, most counties in the state would enter the “generalized risk level”, allowing certain companies to reopen with modifications.
Newsom’s Emergency Services Office also confirmed to CBS2 on Sunday night that the order could be canceled.
“We see promising signs that California is slowly emerging from the most intense stage of this pandemic,” Brian Ferguson, deputy director of crisis communication, told the station.
“We are continuing to analyze what this means for the regional home stay order and we anticipate that the state Department of Public Health will provide a formal update (this) morning. ”
In addition, a letter from the California Restaurant Association dated Sunday said: “Late in the evening, senior Newsom administration officials informed us that the governor will announce tomorrow that the home stay request will be suspended in all regions of the state. ”
The news came when Riverside University Health System reported 258,352 cases of coronavirus since the start of the public health documentation period in early March, and 2,777 deaths from complications related to the virus. The agency does not provide updated statistics on weekends.
On Friday, 2,500 new cases were reported compared to 2,739 on Thursday, in addition to 38 virus-related deaths, while hospitalizations for COVID-19 across the county fell.
Fatalities are secondary indicators due to delays in processing death certificates and cover periods of three to four weeks, sometimes longer.
COVID-positive hospitalizations across the county were 1,497 on Friday, down 32 from Thursday. This includes 335 patients in intensive care units, unchanged from the previous day. The county’s COVID patient count has generally declined since January 12.
The number of known active virus cases across the county was 78,752 on Friday, an increase of 1,116. The active count is obtained by subtracting deaths and recoveries from the current total – 258,352 – according to the county Executive Office.
Patient recoveries across the county are 177,003.
On Thursday, the county’s SARS-Cov-2 vaccination booking portal fell due to heavy traffic that filled all available vacancies for weekend immunization clinics across the county. Provisional county CEO Juan Perez apologized for the interruption and the Executive Office replaced the site.
The new scheduling portal can be accessed at www.rivcoph.org/COVID-19-Vaccine. Guidance on how to schedule times is available on the website.
The clinics are planned Monday through Friday, with some places reserved specifically for Phase 1B level 1 residents – those aged 65 and over – under the revised vaccination guidance from the California Department of Public Health.
The county’s overall positive COVID-19 rate is 23.8%, down from 25.8% last week, based on figures adjusted by the state.
Southern California ICU availability in 11 counties officially remains at 0%.
The metrics for regional ICU beds were an important reference in Governor Gavin Newsom’s request to stay in a regional home, which took effect on December 6. The order was triggered when the availability of ICU beds in Southern California dropped to less than 15%.
The mandate should remain in effect until the availability of beds recovers.
The order to stay at home impacted bars, theaters, museums, hairdressers, indoor recreational facilities, amusement parks and wineries – all of which were to remain closed. Restaurants are limited to delivery and delivery, with capacity limitations at points of sale.