Orange County and all of Southern California received word late Friday, Dec. 4, that its diminishing intensive care capacity likely will thrust the region into the most restrictive stay-at-home order since March.
The move, based on an order from the state, could prohibit private gatherings of any size, require masks in public and shut down more non-essential businesses.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday said the state was on the brink of a serious shortage of intensive care beds and that any of five California regions that dropped below 15% ICU bed availability would trigger for themselves a new lockdown for at least three weeks.
Region 5, which includes Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and several other Southern California counties, fell to a 13.1% capacity on ICU beds.
The new state order goes into effect at 12:59 p.m. Saturday and gives local health officials 24 hours to implement the regional stay-at-home restrictions, meaning Southern California will have until Sunday afternoon to enact them.
The order adds new restrictions to the kaleidoscope of business and public sector guidelines, again closing hair salons, playgrounds and museums and forcing restaurants to rely on takeaway and delivery orders.
Retailers will have to cut admittance indoors to 20%, though many already were running at a quarter or half capacity inside, per purple tier rules. Schools that already are teaching in-person can keep doing so.
During a news conference Thursday, Newsom said that hammer could fall for the most dire regions within a couple of days.
State health officials said Friday that regional ICU capacity figures would be posted daily, and the day’s update was posted state’s COVID-19 website late in the evening.
California Department of Public Health staff did not respond Friday to questions asking when the next update would come, but a spokesperson said state officials would notify local health officers directly when their region falls below the 15% ICU threshold.
Dr. Clayton Chau, Orange County Health Care Agency director and county health officer, made no public announcement Friday.
As of Thursday, the 11-county Southern California group, including coastal and inland areas as far north as Mono and as far south as San Diego, collectively had 20.6% of ICU beds available.
The Northern California region, including Humboldt and Shasta counties, was closest to the red line Thursday at 18.6% ICU capacity.
Taking no chances, a group of Bay Area counties announced Friday that they would go ahead with stay-at-home restrictions immediately, ahead of an order from the state government.
Orange County’s ICU capacity inched up to 20% Friday, from 17% Thursday, an indication that the county’s hospitals are scrambling staff and swiftly reactivating pandemic battle plans, converting other sections of their facilities into critical care areas.
By Thursday, 195 COVID-19 patients occupied intensive care beds among the Orange County’s 33 hospitals, according to state health data. Just two months ago, there were around 50. The county peaked at 245 intensive care coronavirus patients on July 15, during the summer surge.
Overall coronavirus hospitalizations climbed to 746 by Friday, breaking another record, and the county’s Health Care Agency reported 17 more deaths.
The latest shutdown plans temporarily supersede the state’s four-tier tracking system, which has been used since August to track important coronavirus metrics, such as case rates, and determine what should and shouldn’t open.
Orange County’s case rate appears to be worse than ever.
By Tuesday, the county had 22.2 new coronavirus cases per day per 100,000 residents, more than triple the rate just one month ago. Testing positivity – the share of swab tests returning positive – reached 8.8%, though it hasn’t yet matched rates seen in mid-July.
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December 05, 2020 at 09:10AM
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Orange County, Southern California likely will enter regional stay-at-home order - OCRegister
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